The Fragility of the Human Heart
by TheUnkownAuthor
Summary: Chuckie Finster, 16. An emotional wreck battling Depression, a second illness, and a disability. A boy who struggles to build his own social life from discrimination. With the help of his friends & family, can Chuckie overcome the emotional scars a dark past of recent misfortune and bad news has left? And if so, is this new happy present reality, or is it a nightmare in disguise?
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story ever, I honestly haven't watched any show part of the rugrats franchise in years, with the exception of my younger cousin watching the show just recently which made me have the idea for this story. Feel free to give a review.

Disclaimer: all rights go to Klasky-Csupo, I do not own Rugrats or All Grown Up, credits for all already existent characters go to Klasky Csupo. I also do not own the cover art used for this story,it was made by an artist on deviant art by the name of crazylolli.

It was like any normal Friday. It was time to break for lunch, and Tommy was with his closest friend, Chuckie, packing his books from his last class back into his locker. The 2 guys had known each other since the playpen, a friendship that could mostly be responsible from their own fathers having the same childhood friendship. The two nearly knew everything about each other, and if there was something new to know, they were the first to find out. They were like brothers. As Chuckie took a bite out of his sandwich, unable to wait to walk to the cafeteria any longer. All of the sudden, he saw someone that made his heart pound so hard; he nearly choked on his food. He saw Ally Manson, a very beautiful teenage girl in Chuckie's Drama class. She walked up to him.

"Hey, Chuckie, are you ready for the performance today?" asked Ally, her beautiful green eyes gleaming.

"Uh.. uh.. yeah, I should be at least." said Chuckie, unable to contain himself. He remembered the week before, how excited he got when his teacher said he was paired with her.

"Awesome, I know you're gonna do great! See you then." Ally walked away

Chuckie really liked Ally, and although she had told him in class that she had already been dumped by her boyfriend Z, and gotten over him, he was extremely shy to ask her out, it would be his first date, and girlfriend.

Tommy put his hand on Chuckie's shoulder, and after seeing the look of concern in his best friend's eyes, Chuckie was to upset he let another opportunity get away.

"Why did you let her get away?" Tommy asked

"I choked up, I could barely breath, I'm asthmatic for Christ's sake Tommy, I got nervous" Chuckie said shamefully

"You can't hide forever, look, you said she became single 2 weeks ago, and that she is over it, it is your chance right now to get that date"

"Can we please just go to the cafeteria, I just wanna move on with my life"

Tommy couldn't bear to see Chuckie like this, It was too much for him to have to look at. Hopefully, he could help Chuckie overcome this somehow.

Meanwhile, Their 4 friends were outside waiting for them. Chuckie and Tommy were the closest to each other in the group, but they weren't just a duo. Phil and Lil Deville, the twins were waiting. They were best friends and committed forever, being that they were twins. Despite being twins, Phil was equally as close with Dil, Tommy's younger brother, due to their mutual weirdness, Phil was often a voluntary guinea pig for Dil's inventions as well. Lil, the older twin, was best friends with Kimi, Chuckie sister. Lil and Kimi often did nearly everything together that could be deemed girly. Despite their friendships, the sibling always stuck with each other. Tommy and Dil were always hanging out 24/7 when not with anyone their age, Phil and Lil were inseperable, and Chuckie and Kimi, despite being the only non-biological pair in the group, told each other everything, a trait that sprouted full strength after Kimi found the reason for Chuckie's outburst in the whole "TP+KF" incident. He felt that the two didn't deem him as someone trustworthy and already being someone who never made any new friends at school, he felt as if they were turning on him too. After everything was cleared up, they agreed to never lie to each other again.

The 4 were waiting as Lil explained to them about a crisis she was going through…

"BOOM!" she exclaimed, as she through a stack of papers in the air, "my whole world explodes and I enter a lifetime of heartbreak!" she said, nearly falling.

Lil was talking about a crush, which normally wasn't a problem, except that her crush, was Chuckie. With the exception of Phil and Kimi were the very first people to know about this. Kimi at first was a little sceptical about the situation, and it became slowly like "TP + KF 2.0" but then she remembered that she had to be supportive of Lil, and was soon excited, knowing Chuckie could finally get his first date made her excited for her brother, being that she was always overprotective of his self-esteem.

"Chuckie would never break your heart that cruelly" Kimi said, a little offended by the accusations being made of her brother

"You are over exaggerating this beyond proportion Lillian, get over your fear and talk to him" Phil said in a worried tone.

"I can't do it, I've known him since we were babies, I've known him longer than his own sister and mom have known him!" Lil said "I am scared of all the risks, and what he might think of me afterwards."

Dil started patting her back but then noticed his brother and his friend coming towards them "quick, act natural, they're coming"

Tommy and Chuckie sat down with the group.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen" Tommy said and comedic formal tone.

Kimi could tell within seconds that Chuckie was feeling depressed, and in no time at all, she was asking questions, trying to find out what was bothering Chuckie.

"Kimi, I'm just having girl problems, that's all" Chuckie said, hoping to finally make his sister quiet down.

Lil face flushed, her heart sank, she thought she was gonna vomit all at once, upon hearing what had been said.

"I need to leave, right now." She said. She ran from the table, tears in her eyes, Kimi wanted to go after her, but Phil stopped her.

"I'll go, she's my sister, and Chuckie looks like he might need you right now." Phil whispered. Kimi decided to stay, while Phil ran in Lil's direction.


	2. Chapter 2

Phil eventually managed to catch up to his sister right before she went into the girl's bathroom.

"What's wrong? What's gotten into you?" Phil said, grabbing her arm to prevent her from running.

Lil stood there, staring at her brother, whimpering for 3 seconds before finally bursting into tears, running into her younger twin brother's embrace.

"He already likes some other girl… he would never ask me out… an… and if I were to ask… him out, he'd prob.. probably turn me down for that girl!" Lil said, barely able to get the words out.

Phil wanted to tell her that was not true, but he couldn't, how could he ensure his sister of something that he couldn't guarantee. How?

Back at the lunch table, Kimi was still trying to be a detective on Chuckie, although still unsuccessful.

"Alright, you know what, if you're having girl problems, maybe we can talk when we get home" Kimi grabbed Chuckie's hands and held them tight. "I want to help you Chuckie, you've never been able to get the confidence to ask a girl on a date, I really want to help you, I'm sorry, but this is just something I can't say that I don't care about"

Chuckie saw the look of concern in her eyes, he knew the promise he had told her, so he knew he had to keep it, although, confessing he had a crush on Z's ex wasn't going to be easy to admit, after all, she personally knew Z as a close friend, and Z and Chuckie had come to be on friendly terms themselves.

"Look Lillian, if Chuckie is meant to be with you, then the relationship he'll have with whatever chick he's got a crush on will fail miserably. If it doesn't then you two were never meant to be." Phil was still holding his sister in a hug, although it was more because she didn't want to let go.

"How could I wait too long, I should've asked him out sooner, I should've gotten it out of the way when I had the chance." Lil's heart was full of regret, she had liked Chuckie as more than a friend for months now, and she wasn't able to tell if he returned affection.

"Things will work out for you in the end, I promise, there can't be a sad ending for someone as good as you." Phil said, as his sister wiped away her tears. "Look, you've been in this situation before with several other guys, you got over it with them, what makes Chuckie any different. Besides, if you love something set it free, if it comes back, it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was, and was never meant to be."

Lil smiled a little bit at this, she loved Chuckie to be with him, but unfortunately, what Phil was saying was the reality of life, and she had to accept reality…for now. She was better than Phil at a lot of things, but when it came to comforting someone, that was more something meant for Phil to do.

It was last period drama, Chuckie and Ally were preparing for their final performance. Chuckie felt lucky, it was the kiss scene from the Great Gatsby, when during the party, Gatsby pulled away with Daisy and got his kiss. Chuckie felt so lucky that he was paired with Ally for this assignment, being someone very pessimistic, we was surprised to hear something good happen to him.

As he prepared himself, Chuckie realized he left his phone in his jeans and didn't move it to his dress pants before changing. When he went to make the switch, Ally was right there, and being the klutzy guy he was, dropped his phone, as Ally went to pick it up, his phone vibrated and flashed, meaning he got a text message.

"Please be anything but Tommy, please be anything but Tommy, even if it's Mom reminding me to take my asthma medication, heck, even Dad asking for me pick up his eczema lotion, just please don't be Tommy" He desperately thought to himself.

But sure enough, it was a text from Tommy that read clearly, "Did you talk with Ally yet about your crush on her?"

Ally responded to seeing this with, to Chuckie's surprise, with a smile, a subtle smile, it looked a little devious, but subtle and friendly. Despite the smile though, Chuckie couldn't help but face palm himself and let out a little curse under his breath. As the scene opened, Chuckie began his performance, playing Gatsby, having his conversation with Daisy, played by Ally. He felt that a lot about Gatsby's situation reflected his, like Gatsby, Chuckie was in love with a woman, a woman who for a long time, was already taken.

"Now if only I had the wit and confidence Gatsby had" he thought to himself, after all, Gatsby was the one who at least could manage to confess his love on his own.

As the performance moved forward , Chuckie noticed something happen, someone entered the classroom. It was Tommy.

Upon seeing his friend, Tommy gave Chuckie a face that read: "I'm just here to give you some support."

Chuckie raised an eyebrow to give a "Really?" type of look, although Tommy has a spare period, so Chuckie decided to tuck this concern to the back of his mind, and just focus on his performance.

It was exceptional, the entire time, the teacher smiled at the performance of Chuckie and Ally, and when it was nearing the end, Chuckie was ready for what was coming. All his worries were gone, he remembered every line spot-on, and all he had to do was nail one last scene, his problem: It was the kiss scene between Daisy and Gatsby. Chuckie just immediately had a million thoughts run through his head, but the biggest of all was: "What do I do, what if she is able to tell I like her through the kiss?" Eventually though, he knew one thing above all in theatre through acting for Tommy's films, the show must go on, so in 2 seconds flat, Chuckie just decided in his mind "Screw it!" and grabbed her and Kissed, just like Gatsby did. The scene ended there, and the class erupted in loud applause, whistling and clapping on their hands for the two. A few people even chanted Chuckie's name. Upon going back behind the curtain, Chuckie was nervous about what to say to Ally, but luckily he didn't' need to.

"YOU DID AWESOME!" She cried, hugging the red-headed boy, he was grateful she didn't see him blush. "Here by the way, I know you're too shy to ask me out, so here…" she handed him a folded piece of paper. "Call me when you're ready".

She planted a kiss on his cheek and left. Chuckie's face turned red, he couldn't believe it, the paper had her phone number on it, and she had kissed him. Tommy went behind the curtain, and immediately upon seeing him, just couldn't hold the emotion in anymore, "HUG ME BROTHA!" He yelled, as Chuckie ran into a guy-hug from his best friend.

"You got her number didn't you?" he asked.

Chuckie, still unable to speak just showed the piece of paper.

"Did you ask her?"

Chuckie shook his head, and then, showed his friend his phone, which still had a preview of the text from earlier.

"You owe me then; I think free Finster-Finster shakes for life could be in order?" Tommy said.

Chuckie, finally recovered from his shock, spoke up "maybe a week, or a month, but not life"

The two guys had a good laugh, as Chuckie took of the tuxedo jacket, stuffed it inside his duffle bag.

"I'm gonna be honest, your performance was amazing, you've got a better chance at a Oscar than Leonardo!" Tommy complimented

"Name an actor who has lost to Leonardo for an Oscar" Chuckie joked, as the two friends chuckled, leaving the room as they heard the dismissal bell ring.


	3. Chapter 3

I'd like to point out, the rugrats are 16 in this tory, I forgot to mention that in the previous chapters.

Chuckie was really worried about how Kimi would react to him asking out Z's ex-girlfriend, and he knew that unless Kimi didn't ask who the girl was, which was a risky situation he didn't want to go into unprepared.

"Chuckie, what you're saying is ridiculous, your sister would never see you differently just because of who you date; besides, as far as I'm concerned, she barely knows Ally." Tommy ensured his friend. He knew this was going to be a challenge and was saying whatever he could to make sure Kimi wasn't suspicious of anything. "What you should do is straight up tell her you got the number though, that needs to be told."

Chuckie nodded in agreement with everything Tommy said. Kimi caught up with them, and immediately gave both her boyfriend and her brother a hug. "Your performance was great, where did you get the confidence to do that kiss scene?" she asked Chuckie.

Chuckie was confused all of the sudden. "Wait, how do you know how my performance went?"

"Tommy had me in a video chat on his phone, after seeing all the work you put into it, did you really think that I was going to miss it?"

Chuckie was happy to hear that and gave a hug of his own to his sister.

"You're lucky my teacher didn't notice I was in the bathroom for too long." Kimi replied

Kimi turned around and decided to give some quick attention to her boyfriend. "Thanks for helping me so I could see the play."

They kissed and at that, and Chuckie slipped from the situation, seeing this as an opportunity to not have to talk to Kimi.

Once the couple was done making out, and left the school, they noticed Chuckie had already gone, home. "I hope to God that he is able to follow my advice" Tommy thought.

Chuckie sprinted back to their house, hoping Kimi wouldn't catch up and that Tommy would keep her occupied long enough. Although upon arriving home, he had a new problem, his parents were there.

"Hey guys, aren't you supposed to be at work?" Chuckie asked, barely able to breath.

Kira, with a look of concern on her face that Chuckie had labeled as her "mind reader face" since she used it to tell when something was wrong with him even when he didn't show it, ran to her adoptive son, and got out his inhaler for him, and with one puff, Chuckie was slowly better. "Aiji, are you alright?" she asked as she pushed his uncontrollable hair out of his face so she could see it."

Chuckie nodded in silence, which only added to Kira's concern.

"It's Friday, you and Kimi are supposed to be running the Java Lava tonight, have you been really keeping Betty waiting that long?" Chas said, bringing his son some water.

Chuckie's face went red, he just realized that he needed to get to the coffee shop, and with that, chugged the glass of water, despite being told not to, and was out the door within seconds. Kira looked out the window, and saw her son hop on his bike and riding as fast as he could to the shop.

"Should I be concerned, I feel like something might be bothering him, or that he's anxious about something?" Kira said.

"He's fine Kira, maybe he wanted to get home early to get a head start on studying for finals and didn't remember about his shift, he'll probably study at the shop; I just hope that doesn't mess up his shift. If this is really bothering you, we'll ask Kimi, if she thinks something is bothering him, she'll tell us." Chas said. This made Kira feel a bit more comfortable, for now.

The Java Lava was always where Chuckie needed to be to be to get away from his hectic life. Although today, it's purpose failed as Kimi barged in 20 minutes within Betty leaving him with the store.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" She asked, sounding just as concerned with him as Kira had just moments ago.

"I had work, plus I felt awkward being a third wheel." Chuckie replied

Kimi sighed, put her apron on, and she got ready.

"So what's been going on, like the girl troubles you mentioned, I didn't get a good of the girl you were performing with, but you seemed so confident in the play-kiss, why are you scared to kiss a girl for real, heck even flirt." She asked.

Chuckie was confused as to how to answer this. "I'm just shy of what a girl will think of me. I'm scared of being turned down and laughed at for even trying." Although what he was saying was sincere, he wasn't ready to say anything voluntarily about Ally.

Kimi saw that there were no customers, so she took her brother face and put it in her hands so he would have to look her in the eye. "Heartbreak should be the last thing you should think about when you ask someone. If you're afraid that they'll hurt you, that's an obvious sign that you and that person are not ready to date, being shy is normal Chuckie, but there has to be a limit."

The moment she said that, Chuckie came to his senses and realized that she was right.

"I've got an important phone call to make" he said, and ran to the kitchen.

Kimi smiled as she smiled at this, she finally had done it. "Maybe I shouldn't push him to tell me who the girl is." She thought. She felt bad that Lil was Chuckie didn't return Lil's affection, but she was happy to have helped Chuckie with this problem. Chuckie had never controlled who she dated, and she wasn't going to do that to him.

Back in the kitchen, Chuckie made a call that although he was hesitant to make, he did it because it was now or never. Once the call was answered on the other line, Chuckie asked the question to Ally, "do you wanna hang out tomorrow night?" and… she agreed, she said yes, and within seconds of hanging up, he was ecstatic, and his sister heard screams of victory from within the kitchen, and next thing Chuckie knew, he was hugged so hard by Kimi, she knocked him down.

Later that night, when Chuckie came home, Kira, still unaware of the situation, began a rapid fire of questions to Kimi and Chuckie, much to Chas' disagreement.

"Have you been getting bullied Chuckie?"

"No"  
"Kimi, has you're brother seemed depressed lately"

"Not really Mom."

"Kira, will you please calm down" Chas interrupted.

"Chas, don't you care at all over the situation"

"Ah jeez"

Chuckie and Kimi turned to Chuckie and asked in a whisper…

"Should I tell them?"

"No, I remember how much they teased you the night you were getting ready for your first date with Tommy"

"Oh yeah, and who spilled the beans about that"

"Uh oh."

"I think it's time I got some revenge"]

"Kimi please"

But before Kimi had a chance to speak, Chas and Kira finished their argument.

"Kira, I'm really sure this is not a good idea"

Chuckie and Kimi went to sit on the coach in the living room to give the adults some time, and so Chuckie could at least try to convince Kimi.

"Chas, he is our son, we need to know what is going on"

"We are completely intruding in his life, he'll open when ready"

Chas lost his temper, and not wanting to argue, he asked to be excused, and went to his and Kira's bedroom, although he apologized to his family before leaving.

"Kira went to sit next to her son, who was collapsed on the coach, mostly because he was too nervous, he agreed to give Kimi his paycheck for a month, and even clean her room.

Kira came to sit down, pulling Chuckie up and wrapping her arms around him, rocking back and forth.

"Look, your father may be right, you tell me what's wrong when ready, just, don't hide it for too long, don't hold it in until it's too late." She said, smiling at him while still holding him in her embrace. Right then Kimi decided to give a devious smile to her brother, and Chuckie knew, she had turned down their offer.

"Chuckie finally asked his crush out on a date and is scared about it!" she exclaimed.

Kira let go of her son immediately and her jaw dropped, staring at Chuckie with a raised eyebrow that told him, "Really, that's it?"

Chuckie got up and flipped out at her.

"Dammit Kimi, we had a deal!"

"Deals been turned down bro, revenge, reveeenge!" she yelled as she ran out of the room upstairs.

Kira stared at her son, she couldn't believe it. She knew Chuckie was really shy; he was like that since she'd adopted him as her own when he was 2. But this, she found this something even Chuckie wouldn't be embarrassed about.

Once she could tell they were alone, she began to laugh at her son, while playfully brushing his hair out of his face.

"What did you have to be so embarrassed and shy about with me?" she asked. She always thought she was one of the people Chuckie felt comfortable with; after all, he'd come to accept her quite quickly when he was 2, and she'd basically raised him with Chas.

"I dunno" Chuckie said in a meek tone, "I thought you'd just tease me like you and Dad did with Kimi."

"Nah, Kimi gave me and your Dad more than enough enjoyment" Chuckie sighed when she said that, but then, she put on a devious smile.

"Although…"

"Ohhhhhh crap" he muttered under his breath, and before he could do anything else, he was hugged again, even tighter, and was planted with a million kisses by his mother.

"Oh Chuckie-san I'm so happy for you, your first date, oh my little boy is growing up too fast"

"please let this be over" he thought.

Immediately following, his father came in, and the mother and son could tell he knew what was happening.

"Kimi told me everything, I'm really happy for you buddy, so what are you planning on doing?" he said

"I think a movie would be a good first date!" Kira chimed in.

"I don't know, they won't do much talking or socializing, it's just sitting in a dark room, how about you take her a that nice little bar and grill a few blocks down the road"

"I know, and the bar and grill is a nice idea, but he might choke up or get nervous" she said, holding onto Chuckie, as he was still trying to release himself from his mother's arms. Despite her small figure, she had always been surprisingly strong. "In the dark, he won't feel as much pressure of anxiety."

Chuckie eventually reached the maximum amount of stress he could take. "ENOUGH!" He exclaimed, and Kira, realizing it was too much for him. She got him his inhaler again, since he'd left it in his coat, and he took a good puff and was all better.

"Sorry, but it was only fair, we did it for Kimi as well" Chas said, ruffling up his son's hair.

"It's alright" Chuckie said under his breath. "I think I'll maybe do the movie thing, but take her 30 minutes early 'by accident' so we can actually hang out."

Chas, embracing himself for his wife's victory bragging, was surprised to actually see his wife looking like she was hiding concern.

"So what type of movie you planning on, I recommend horror, she'll be clinging onto you all night" he said with a wink.

Kimi came in at that moment, and after hearing her father's fast comment, she couldn't hold in her reply.

"I dunno, are you sure it won't be the other way around?" She asked sarcastically.

Chuckie got up, and this time, didn't hold back as he immediately started chasing his sister out of the room, yelling at her.

Chas saw this as the perfect moment to ask Kira what was going on in his mind.

"Why did you seem so scared when Chuckie went into that asthma attack, it was very minor and even you could tell? You're often never worried about that, so what was bothering you."

"Kira looked at Chas, and immediately, he could tell, she was scared about something, scared for Chuckie".


	4. Chapter 4

"Kira what on earth could be bothering you right now?" he asked, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder.

Kira took a deep breath and gave her answer. "Chas, I am happy for Chuckie, but part of me has just remembered in all this commotion why I've always been scared of the day Chuckie would start dating. He's just, too sensitive, I'm afraid of what would happen if things didn't work out" she said, barely on the verge of crying.

Chas looked her straight in the eye, he knew that this was risky, but he knew Chuckie needed this. "That's exactly the benefit of Chuckie dating. If his heart is broken, he can get over it, and that will obviously be a big self-esteem boost."

"How can it boost his self-esteem? He will just go back to being shy, it will be a bigger knock down than the whole "ninth grade incident", or4 even that whole incident from last year, aren't you forgetting the 1 year anniversary of that nightmare is coming up" Kira argued, nearly vomiting at the mention of those saddening moments, having to watch her own son be emotionally torn apart.

"Well if that happens, he'll have us, and Kimi, and all of his other friends, we'll all support him. Besides, he's not a child anymore, he's able to get over things, if he wasn't I don't think he would have the close relationship that he has with you."

Kira knew what he meant. Chas' first wife and Chuckie's biological mother died of a respiratory disease only 2 or 3 months after giving birth to Chuckie. She knew if Chuckie could get over something that bad as a toddler, and was able to accept her as his mother, then he wouldn't struggle to get over a break up at 16, he knew how to emotionally hold himself together.

"He is very shy, but after dating this girl, then if the relationship will fail, he'll learn that it's not something difficult to just ask a girl out." Chas added to his argument.

Kira decided Chas was right. Though she knew her son was emotional and sensitive, she knew that this would help to fix that problem, so she nodded and gave her husband a hug and called it a night. As she left the room to got to bed, she came across a picture of the Finster family outside a Japanese opera theater. Chuckie had become quite fond of asian culture, especially Chinese and Japanese, from a young age. The picture was of a 2-year-old Kimi, hugging onto Chas, her new father, while Kira was holding a 3-year-old Chuckie, as he hid himself in her arms, as he confused a geisha to be a clown, she remembered how she helped him to not be scared. She looked then at a picture of all the friends as babies, all falling from a box that was filled with toys. Then she came across one last picture, this one in particular, she knew was important to Chuckie. It was of him and his really close friend, and former crush, Nicole Boscarelli, as she kissed him on the cheek on his 14th birthday. Kira sighed at the three pictures, "It seems you have hopefully a good emotional foundation for what is about to happen Chuckie-san, and I hope the best for you." Kira blew a kiss to the first photo, and went to bed. As Chas saw this, he looked at a special photo of his own. Him, his first wife Melinda, and a month old Chuckie, on their first Christmas together, which unfortunately, was also their last. He saw his beautiful first wife, squeezing tightly onto her son, as he laughed. "Its a shame your not alive anymore Melinda, but I hope you're watching down on Chuckie, he's always had your personality, your brave, subtle, and sweet personality. He hugged the photo, and followed his wife to bed.

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs in Kimi's room, the 2 siblings found themselves fighting. Kimi was completely against the idea of guys not being allowed to hit girls, and she and Chuckie had physical fights in the past because of this. Kimi appeared stronger, but despite the boy's scrawny appearance, Chuckie was surprisingly flexible, and the weirdest part was, he had no idea where he got the ability to do it. So with his strength, was easily able to pin down his sister.

"Do you promise to stop!" Chuckie said, pinning Kimi's arm behind her back.

"Yes" Kimi yelled

"Do you promise never to annoy me again"

"Yes"

"Do you promise to give me your paychecks for a month, AND pay for all the free smoothies I owe Tommy for helping me get the girl's number"

"I'll tell Dad you made such a promise to Tommy if you don't get off me"

Chuckie gave a good laugh, and got off his sister.

"Sorry about that"

"Nah, I should watch what I say. Look, how about I help you find a good look for your date tomorrow, and maybe, I'll get Lil to help." Kimi said.

Chuckie smiled at that. "Deal". They shook on it and Chuckie turned to leave the room, but before he left…

"Hey, Chuckie, before you leave…"

"Yes Kimi"

Kimi ran up to him, and hugged him, the same way Kira was just doing when she was picking on him. "I'm really proud of you for overcoming your fear, please continue this attitude, okay."

Chuckie let out a huge smile, and nearly teared up. "Alright" he said, as he exited the room.

The minute she was alone, she went on her phone, and called Lil. "Hey do you think you can help me with something, you may not be happy to help but I need you to support this"


	5. Chapter 5

While everything was unfolding in the Finster household, the Deville house was not too boring itself. Phil was sitting in his room, he had just had a test in every class he had today, so didn't have the next ones to expect this week. As he sat in his room, bored after looking ahead into his textbooks (as he had matured, he'd started putting more effort into school, and had discovered he was quite talented in science, specifically biology). He still had one more task to do but couldn't remember it, so he decided to drop it and just go ask Lil if she wanted to go to the arcade.

Upon entering his room, he saw Lil in a hand-crafted outfit; and had completely caked her face with make-up. Phil could do nothing but step backward, tripping and falling to his back.

"Phillip, are you okay?" Lil said in concern as she rushed to Phil to help him up.

"Lillian, what the heck, I thought you said you had no plans tonight, you said you'd make some time to go to the arcade with me." Phil said as Lil pulled him up.

"Sorry, change in plans. By the way, in your opinion, am I wearing too much make-up." Lil said, completely inattentive to Phil.

"Why?"

"Because… I want to look good, I'm gonna confess to Chuckie that I like him, and see if he can give me a chance, I might as well get it done before it's too late."

"Chuckie hates it when girls wear anything more than lipstick and eye shadow-"

Lil cut him off, "Crap, Phillip, help me get this off!"

"Lillian, Chuckie also believes that if a girl is more comfortable wearing make-up, than he is fully supportive of it, he only hates girls who do it for attention."

"Oh"

"Lillian, Chuckie is your friend, that is all you need, although despite that it might help, it might also do the opposite, just remember the risk taken." Phil assured his sister.

"Thanks Phillip" Lil said with a smile, as she hugged her brother, as she let go, and headed for the door, she remembered something she had to tell Phil. "Aren't you supposed to make dinner on Fridays?"

"Oh crap, your right!" Phil said, finally remembering what the forgotten ask was. "What do you want to eat" Phil called from the kitchen.

"Do you have the ingredients for that amazing pizza lasagna you know how to make" said Lil.

"Sure, and I'll get to work on it, be back in an hour at least if you don't want it cold!"

"Okay" Lil called "Leave it to my brother to mix something fancy like lasagna and something non-fancy as pizza to make something so awesome" she muttered under her breath, as she left the house.

Lil was right at the doorstep of the Finster household, when she got a call on her phone, it was Kimi.

"Yeah Kimi?" Lil said

"Hey do you think you can help me with something, you may not be happy to help but I need you to support this" Kimi said replied

"What is it?"

"Chuckie asked out his crush and they've got a date tomorrow"

Lil suddenly froze, her heart sank, and she felt as if she would throw up her own stomach. Could it be? Was it already too late? It was all over, she would never get a chance with Chuckie.

"Look, I know you might be angry Lil, but I couldn't tell Chuckie not to ask the girl out. Even when he was so protective of me 4 years ago, he didn't care who I dated, he didn't stop me as long as I was happy with the guy, I couldn't stop him." Kimi said, fighting back tears of guilt.

"I… it's okay..." Lil said, wiping away tears on her face. "What do you need help with?"

"I need you to help me pick a nice outfit for Chuckie, he needs help from us, fashion wise, again."

"Will do Kimi, it hurts to do it, but Chuckie is still one of my greatest friends regardless." Lil said, trying to stay optimistic.

"Great, Chuckie leaves tomorrow at 7:00, so come at 6:00, is that good?" Kimi asked.

"Yeah" Lil said "Great!" Kimi replied "bye Lil". Lil heard Kimi hang up the phone, and as she stared at the phone, all she could say was "that's fine…"

"Dinner will be ready in in 45 minutes Lillian" Phil said.

"Thanks" Lil said, unenthusiastically.

"He rejected you did he?" Phil asked.

"No, I was just too LATE!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Too late?" Phil questioned. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Chuckie already has made plans with another girl!" Lil replied.

"Aw Lillian, with who, and how did he react?" Phil asked.

"Kimi broke the news, she didn't say who the girl was, but Kimi asked if I could help create a good look for Chuckie, and I, being as spineless as anyone can be, I agreed." Lil said, as she plopped herself face-first into the couch, burying her tears in a pillow.

"Lillian, you just didn't make it soon enough."

"Y… you d-don't think that K-Kimi set the d-date up on purpose do you, because I think s-she might've." Lil said, lifting her face from the pillow to reveal extremely red eyes.

Phil was all of the sudden in total shock of his sister. "Lillian, how could you ever say that!"

"Haven't you ever felt like the loyalty of your friends is questionable?" asked Lil

"No, it's never okay to do that!"

"Philip, you're a hypocrite. Chuckie has thought that way before!"

"That is because Chuckie is the only person who've I've ever seen who has never made a friend of his own outside our group, and even with our help, the only ones he has ever made was Z and the Japanese club, who he needed Kimi to introduce him to first. He can't earn other people's trust himself and we can't find out why. You on the other hand have no reason."

"I just feel like Kimi is acting way too happy for him. It's as if she wanted this to happen and thought I was trying to hurt Chuckie."

"Lillian, that is possibly the most idiotic and horrible thing you could say about Kimi, I know she has become a lot more protective of Chuckie ever since the whole "ninth grade incident", especially when it comes to dating. Remember how she felt really uncomfortable about her friend in Japanese club, Kyoko, having a little liking towards Chuckie, she just told her straight to her face that she would never let it happen. I thought there would be fist fight to the death eventually." (_Disclaimer: this is not the "ninth grade incident" Phil just referenced.)_

Lil smiled a little bit at the remark her brother made.

"But Kimi kept her cool and didn't blow things out of proportion. She apologized to Kyoko, and even set her and Chuckie up on a date, only to be crushed by the cruel fate of Kyoko's parents dying and she having to move to Japan to live with her grandparents."

"Philip, what's your point, Chuckie has never had a real date before."

"My point is, Kimi would never go all psycho sister chick, she isn't like that."

"You're right, thanks; at least I know Kimi didn't want to hurt me."

"Look, I know you're upset, but you also made a promise to Kimi to help her with this, and you can't let this friendship with Kimi be abolished because of this."

Lil sprang up at those words when they came from her brother. "You're right Philip, and even though this hurts, I'm going to be supportive of Chuckie from the beginning to the end!" Lil said as she stood up on the couch.

"I'm proud of you Lilly! Now let's eat, the lasagna was done about…" Phil gasped at his watch. "10 minutes ago! My lasagna might be burned!" Phil immediately bolted down the stairs.

"Wait, but I like burned edges!" Lil called after him.

When the twins reached the kitchen, they came to a shock to see no smoke, rather, Howard placing the pan of the lasagna on the table.

"Great job Philly, maybe should let the lasagna over-cook more often, and it was really nice of you to cook the lasagna the way Lil likes it for once." Howard said.

Lil smirked at her brother, who let out a big sigh. "Bon appetit family!"


	7. Chapter 7

It was Saturday afternoon, and Lil was supposed to be in Chuckie's room picking some nice clothes for him. Instead, when Kimi walked in with a straightening iron, she couldn't find her best friend.

"Lil, Lil where are you?" Kimi said.

"I'm right here," Lil said, popping out from a pile of clothes. "I can't find anything."

"Really?" Kimi asked in concern.

"Well, I do have one idea, but I don't know what Chuckie will wear, but I have a slight suggestion that he might like." Lil said.

"Chuckie, get in here" Kimi called down the hall.

Chuckie entered the room, and it was quite obvious his sister had been trying to straighten his hair, but to no avail.

"Alright, Chuckie, I think these mahogany jeans would look great with your black sweater vest and white dress shirt."

"I like the idea, I'll give it a try." Chuckie said, as he took the clothes and left.

Kimi looked at Lil and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you so much for being supportive of this" Kimi said.

"Its just fashion" Lil said in confusion

"No, not that" Kimi said, "Its how you are still so happy to help Chuckie despite the circumstances.

"Oh that, honestly, its nothing"

"You know what's coming up in a few weeks?" Kimi asked

"Yeah, the anniversary of the Nicole incident."

"It happened a year ago, but I remember it like yesterday."

A flashback all of the sudden came upon the 2 girls.

* * *

Chuckie was going to the library with Nicole Boscarelli. She was one of very few people who didn't see Chuckie as just simply an annoying, whiny dork, but rather took the time to know him. Chuckie had had a crush on her for years, and being that it was a new year, Chuckie decided to stop hiding. Upon leaving the school, Chuckie stopped Nicole and told her everything about his feelings for her, and even asked her if she would like to go on a date some time. Sure enough, she said yes, and all of the sudden, it was as if every problem Chuckie had ever had was gone, he wasn't scared of anything, and even had the confidence to stand up for himself aginst Matt, the school most brutal bully. Chuckie wasn't getting sent to Pangborn's office, and his grades shot through the roof that week. Then the weekend came, Chuckie picked Nicole up, and they went to the restaraunt, just like planned, but when crossing the street, things took a turn for the worst. A drunk driver turned around the corner in a giant food-produce truck. Chuckie and Nicole had no time to get out of the way. Nicole, without even thinking, pushed her friend out of the way. Chuckie tried to do the same, both were hit. Unfortunately, Chuckie couldn't pull Nicole away, and while he rolled over the hood suffering a dislocated wrist and arm, broken leg and nose, Nicole was completely ran over and was destroyed by the huge truck. Chuckie was treated in the ambulance, but Nicole required intensive care. Chuckie was emotionally destroyed within seconds. He could barely breath while calling 911. He remembered calling his house, Chas heard him on the phone and the family was on their way to the hospital within seconds. Chas offered to call Nicole's parents if it was too much for him, but Chuckie knew he had to do it. Chuckie could barely handle it. Nicole's parents liked Chuckie very much, he felt awful, the "nice young man" that they knew and respected so much was the man right now sitting right next to her unconscious body. Chuckie sat next to Nicole's hospital bed when the Finsters got to the hospital. Kira got out earlier than Kimi and Chas, as they had to park a block or 2 away as it was packed. It was so busy doctors said they were surprised that they had a spare room. Chuckie was an emotional wreck as he prayed for Nicole, he was just unable to stop crying for his friend. Kira came into the room, and she saw her son, crying at the bedside, she walked to the bedside and looked at her son in horror.

"Chuckie, what happened?" Kira asked

"S-she got r-run over by a d-drunk d-driver in a produce truck, s-saving my life." Chuckie whimpered. "Mom, they don't know what's gonna happen, and its all my fault." Chuckie broke down into a sob as he continued to grasp Nicole's hand, which he hadn't released since the ambulance. He told his mom the whole story, each part getting hard to tell until he finally talked about how he tried to reverse the situation and couldn't.

"Oh Chuckie, no," Kira said, grabbing a seat next to her son. She tried to wipe at his tears, but the flow didn't stop, and she grabbed him into a hug, as he cried like a powerless child. "you tried, but things just happened too fast for you to react, Nicole tried to be the hero like you and her attempt just ended up being the reality."

Chuckie still couldn't stop crying. Even as his mother rubbed his back, rocked him back and forth, and shushed him, he couldn't stop, he couldn't stop thinking about his friend, the girl who liked him for who he was, the girl who took the time to get to know him, the girl, who he had failed to save.

Kimi walked in, and she saw something that she hoped to never see. She saw her brother, once again emotionally destroyed and scarred for life. She saw him crying into his mother's shoulder, in a way she hadn't seen since he was 2, and adapting to her as an adoptive mother. She never thought she would see Chuckie like this, every problem Chuckie had ever had was back, and stronger than ever.

Chas followed in seconds later. Kimi and Chas joined Chuckie and Kira in a group hug, although seconds later, Chuckie released himself from it when he saw a sight he was horrifically fearing: Nicole's family. He braced himself for what was coming, and as Kira got ready to explain on her son's behalf, Nicole's parents ran up and hugged Chuckie, and were joined by her younger brother and older sister.

"Are you alright boy?" asked.

Chuckie couldn't answer, still crying.

"Chuckie, don't cry, our neighbour witnessed the accident, she heard you yelling "I'm sorry" don't ever think you are to blame for this. You tried to save Nicole, and she did the same. Thank you for caring for our daughter enough to try risking your life for her, we don't blame you at all." said.

"But I still am the reason Nicole was run over." Chuckie replied, slowly re-gaining his breath.

"That doesn't mean you're to blame, it means our daughter loved you so much, she thought you were worth the risk, and we are grateful that you saw her the same way." ensured Chuckie.

"Thank you so much" Chuckie replied, receiving one more squeeze from the Boscarellis before they let go, and Chuckie gave Nicole's hand to her younger brother.

Chuckie immediately retreated back to his parents arms as they gave a quick group hug and then left the room to give the family some time with Nicole, as a doctor came in to talk with the family.

In the waiting room outside the door, Chuckie sat on a couch, petrified of what was about to happen next. While Kimi held him the same way Kira was just doing, and Chas trying calm his son down by talking to him to calm him down, telling him to stay calm, as Kira went to a doctor to talk about Chuckie's Physical state, as well as his injuries. Despite his father's efforts, Chuckie couldn't help but fear the worst case scenario for Nicole. Luckily for him, he wasn't gonna have to wait much longer, as Nicole's doctor finally came out. Kira arrived back, barely in time, as Chas held onto his son tightly, getting ready for whatever result they would get.

"How is she doc?" Chuckie asked

"I'm afraid Nicole's injuries are just to severe, we don't know how long she has left, so we recommend you go into to speak with her now, she has already spoken with her family." The doctor replied.

Chuckie's heart sank when the doctor said those words, he was immediately crying again, as his father tried to calm him down.

"Let's go buddy." Chas said

Chuckie re-entered the room, and he saw Nicole, barely awake, but concsious and smiling, despite the pain she was in, and having knowledge of what was going to happen to her in just a few moments. She looked at Chuckie and her smile grew bigger. She motioned for Chuckie to come to her, he walked up, limping on his crutches. Once he was close enough, she did the unexpected. She hugged him, with all the strength she could conjure together.

"Never blame yourself for this Chuckie" She said in a weak voice. "Never blame yourself for this. All I want from you is for you and my family to move on."

"I promise to do that." Chuckie said, beginning to whimper again.

"Can I ask one more thong from you?" Nicole asked

"Anything for you Nicole." Chuckie replied

She asked both families to close their eyes so they could get some degree of privacy, and once in private, she pulled him into a kiss.

"I love you so much, I wanted to die with your breath inside me." Nicole said.

Everyone looked up again, and turned to Nicole, she knew that her final minutes were now seconds, and so, she said one last thing to everyone: "You've all played a part in giving me a wonderful life, I love you all, Thank... You."

All of the sudden, she blacked out, for one last time. The her heart stopped beating. The doctor gave s quick check.

"I'm sorry, she's gone"

Chuckie couldn't handle this misery any longer. He fell to the floor on his knees, and released an uncontrollable crying fit. His mother got him up, and both families huddled together, and began crying together.

* * *

"I had never seen Chuckie like that before, it was as if fate itself didn't want Chuckie to live happy and confident in himself." Kimi said

"I remember that" Lil said

"The thing is though, you don't know how bad it was that night. Chuckie was hiding something, and it's reveal nearly ruined our relationship with him." Kimi replied.

* * *

The night of Nicole's death, when the Finster family was asleep, with no one in the house expected to wake up for another hour, Kimi woke up to a horrifying sight: Chuckie was having an abnormally severe asthma attack, and in his sleep. Kimi tried waking Chuckie up, and her screams woke up their parents, who rushed immediately to see what was happening. Chas got out the inhaler, Kimi tried to hold him still. Chuckie needed a doctor, so Kira rushed him to the walk-in clinic where one of the family's friends, , was working.

They were able to calm him down and stabilize him again, although when Chuckie woke up, it was clear to what had caused Chuckie's asthma attack, a nightmare. The clinic's psychologist did a quick test on him, and determined that Chuckie was suffering from an anxiety disorder that had been slowly developing for 2 years, with Nicole's death being the last bit of stress his heart could take. Things went a little rough between Chuckie and his family. They were confused as to why he hadn't brought this to their attention before. Chas, Kira, and even Kimi started being way more protective of Chuckie. Kimi was following Chuckie around the school and following up on how he was acting in classes and how he often apeared in class. When Kimi wasn't Investigating, Chas and Kira were. One night, Chuckie became suspicious of everything. He decided to do some investigation of his own. One night, he told his father that he would be spending the night at Tommy's house to watch an anime movie marathon. What Chuckie really did was hide in his closet for a whole 4 hours. Eventually, he saw what he was expecting to see: his father searching his clothes and drawers. He popped out of the closet screaming when he found his father red-handed.

"What are you doing in here?" Chuckie asked.

"I was just checking for dirty laundry" Chas replied.

"My basket is right there, where it always has been" Chuckie said, pointing to a corner where a rectangular bin sat. "What were you really doing?"

"Alright Chuckie, I was looking for drugs, that's what I was doing, I thought you might've started using anti-depressents and was just taking it upon myself to search." Chas admitted in defeat.

"Well you found nothing, now get out, what right do you have to search my room" Chuckie yelled as he stepped closer to his father, at the same time, Kira and Kimi came into the room.

"Chuckie, I am your father, that means that I do as a matter of fact have this right, heck, it's more than a right, it's a responsibility." Chas said firmly, giving his son an obvious warning.

"This is unbelievable, get out, you searched my room and found nothing, now leave." Chuckie exclaimed. "Mom, Kimi, you 2 get out too."

Chuckie and his father fought more and more, and arguments were very easy to trigger. Kimi became scared of Chuckie presence type of attitude took weeks to fix, but eventually, was taken care of. Unfortunately, Chuckie still did act like this occasionally, and still had a very strong anxiety problem.

* * *

"I didn't know things affected him that bad" Lil said.

"It's just sometimes as if he is estranged by almost everyone in the whole world. Know one wants to get to know him, they just think of a stereotypical whiny, wimpy, freakish dork, and that's not what he is." Kimi said on the verge of tears. "He once told me that he didn't have crushes anymore, saying he was one of those people who love was like a poison for. No one is supposed to think like that. He got over this idea as well, but every time he gets scared to talk to a girl, you can tell how disappointed with himself and how he feels that if he could just get over one fear, he could get through all. You're really helping him by being supportive."

Lil looked at her friend and smiled. "Thank you"

Chuckie re-entered the room. He was dressed in the outfit Lil had chosen, and definitely showed a liking for it.

"Thanks Lil, this is awesome. Kimi, how much time do I have left to straighten my hair?"

"None Chuckie, I've got a better idea." Kimi said. She took out a pink pink rubberband from her hair, and walked up to her brother with it. "Now hold still."

She tied her brother's hair into a ponytail, and the look was settled. "Thanks" Chuckie said, as he left the room.

"Good job Lil" Kimi said, as the 2 girls high fived in their achievement.

Downstairs in the living room, as Chuckie put his jacket on, he came across 4 pictures (think the ones Kira and Chas look at back in chapter 4). He smiled at the picture of his friends and let out a tiny chuckle at the one with his family. When he saw the picture of Melinda, and the other of Nicole, he put his hands on them and smiled.

As he went to open the door and leave his house, he was all of the sudden wrapped into someone's arms, and planted with a kiss, he saw in his reflection on the door's window that there was a dark red lipstick mark, so he knew it washis mother who had hugged him. He urned around to look at her and saw her smiling at him.

"Yes mom, do you need something?" Chuckie asked.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck Chuckie." Kira said.

"Thanks." Chuckie replied as he gave her a hug.

"And be careful, promise me." She said with her son still in her arms.

"I promise." Chuckie replied. As he turned around once more to leave, his mother spoke again.

"Chuckie?" Kira asked.

"Yes Mom?" Chuckie turned back once more.

"Let me get that for you." She said, as she licked her thumb and wiped of her lipstick mark from her adoptive son's face, as he tried to escape and wipe it himself, but to no avail. "Don't want her to think you've been kissing any other girls tonight, now do we?" Kira said as she finished cleaning the spot.

"Yeah, now instead of a lipstick mark to make her think I'm a player, I now have spit on my face, so she'll think I'm a momma's boy." Chuckie said jokingly, as he left the house.

"Be back by 11:00, remember your curfew!" Kira called.

"Yes mom!" Chuckie called back.

As he entered his car, he thought about the picture of Melinda, and the other of Nicole. He sighed and looked.

"Thank you, for looking out for me."

_**Hope you guys enjoyed that extra long chapter, sorry if it was a little too long. Just to be clear, the "Ninth grade incident" that has been referenced is not Nicole's death, it is something else, that although not as severe, still means something as to Chuckie's self-esteem issues.**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Sorry this took me longer than usual to upload, but I'm hear with Chapter 8. Also, I know I said Chuckie has a car, but now, it's a motorcycle. This'll be for tiny pieces of dialogue I can add to the story for effect to the plot._**

* * *

Chuckie stood outside Ally house. His knees were shaking, his arms were twitching, he was starting to sweat, he was very nervous. "It's now or never." Chuckie thought to himself, as he knocked on the door.

Chuckie heard what sounded like a stereotypically intimidating and large man. "I'll get it!" Chuckie heard the man say from the inside. Chuckie gulped. He was petrified of meeting a man he had never seen before in his life, but knew he had to do this. Luckily, though, that time wasn't going to be tonight, as Ally answered the door, stating that it was "just a friend".

"Hey Chuckie" Ally said answering the door.

"Hey Ally, you look great." Chuckie said, relieved that Ally answered the door.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Sure." He said, as she grabbed his hand and walked to his motorcycle.

"Nice ride." Ally said.

Chuckie's "ride" was a 2009 Honda rebel that he'd bought through finding a second part-time job working for an online blog company, a few focus groups, 2 years' worth of gift money, and 6 months' worth of java lava paychecks. It was a lot of work, and took a lot of time for his parents to get used to the idea of their "shy little boy" cruising around town in a leather jacket while riding a loud motorcycle, but the effort was worth it to Chuckie, especially when he got the compliments for it.

"Thanks" Chuckie replied, as he handed Ally a helmet. "It sucks that I'm planning to get my license in a few months though, if I get a car, I'll probably end up selling it."

"I'm a little scared, I've never been on a motorcycle before." Ally said, struggling to put the helmet on.

Chuckie laughed at the sight, and helped adjust it onto her head. "Don't worry, it's awesome."

Once the 2 were strapped on, Chuckie let it rip, and they were gone in seconds.

"How are you not scared of this, yet asking me out was petrifying to you?" Ally said in fear of falling as she grabbed harder onto Chuckie.

* * *

The date went just as Chuckie had planned. Angelica was working there to pay off her recent overboard use of her credit card, and in exchange for a java lava gift card, Chuckie was able to get a ticket, for a 9:00 showing, even though it was only 7:30.

"This is awesome, things are totally working out for me, I get to hang out with Ally now for a whole hour and a half." Chuckie thought to himself. The two went to the arcade, where Chuckie won her a stuffed animal from the crane machine, and then, the two got some food. They both enjoyed it, and talked for so long, they nearly lost track of time, and almost didn't make it to the movie on time. Luckily, it was a horror flick, just like Chas had recommended his son do. Ally practically missed a quarter of the movie, as she was hiding in his lap the whole time, not that Chuckie didn't make a few attempts to do the same. Eventually, the movie was over, and Chuckie took her home.

"Thanks for winning me the stuffed leopard." Ally said. I always thought that those crane games were fake and just meant to steal money.

"Nah, that's what the people who don't know the secret think. My friend Harold worked at an arcade so he taught me the trick." Chuckie replied.

Ally turned to enter her house, but right as she touched the door knob, she turned back, and kissed Chuckie on the cheek.

"I had a great night, and talking with you was so much fun, we should definitely do this again." she said, as she went back into her house.

Chuckie was in total shock, he couldn't believe she had kissed him on the cheek, and his face was coated in blush. The young man turned back to his motorcycle, revved up the engine as loud as he could, and road away on a wheeelie screaming: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Chuckie came home, and upon entering, saw 3 faces, 3 angry faces.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" Chuckie asked, still smiling from what had happened.

"What's wrong, Chuckie, look at the time! We thought something dangerous might've happened, we thought you were in an accident on your vehicle and injurned in the hospital." Chas exclaimed.

"Why do you always think that my motorcycle is the reason for any injury or pain." Chuckie asked in annoyance.

"That's not the point Chuckie, look at the time!" Kimi said

Chuckie checked the clock, it was 12:30.

"Crap! Lost track of time!" Chuckie said, looking down at his watch. He turned to his parents "Look, I'll take full responsibility, I have no excuses. Whatever punishment you feel is appropriate, do it."

Kimi walked up to Chuckie and looked him in the eye "Chuckie, don't you realize how worried you made us, we don't care about why you were late, we care about the fact that we didn't know where you were or why you were late."

Chuckie looked down at Kimi, still not irritated, rather smiling. "Sorry, I had too good of a night. I'll try in the future to make sure this doesn't happen again. Look, at the end of the day, I'm home, I'm safe, and that's all that matters." He then turned to Kimi, "and when did Mom decide to disown me and leave you as the motherly figure in my life?"

"Hey!" Kira explained.

"It was a joke pointing out that Kimi is trying to be like a mom to me." Chuckie said, defending himself.

"Well I'm just looking out for you." Kimi said, minorly pouting her lips.

"Look, we're happy you had a good night, at least that happened, and you know what, this is your first slip-up, so I'll cut you some slack, seeing the curcumstances, I was a teenager once too." Chas said

"But from now on, I'll start a new system, I'll call you at eleven from now on myself when you're not at home, and only when you don't answer, you get punished, deal?" Kira offered

"Deal!" Chuckie agreed. "Well, I'm gonna hit the showers."

Chuckie turned around to leave the room whe he was stopped by his mother.

"One more thing Chuckie." His mom said. "I saw some skid marks outside on the street outside our house, you know what that means. Hand them over."

Chuckie accepted the punishment, not happily, but did obey without arguing, as he took out his motorcycle keys, and handed them to his mother. "Why is it always the motorcycle that you have to take away." He whined.

"I just want you to be more careful when riding it, that's all I'm asking from you, sweetheart." Kira said as she put away the keys. Once her hands were empty, she immediately pinched her son's cheeks. "After all, I wouldn't want my little Chuckie-san to get hurt, wouldn't I, Aiji?" Kira said, obviously this being part of the punishment, as she pinched his cheeks until they flashed red.

"Mom, let go, Mom, Owwwww, Please let go of me!" Chuckie exclaimed. Eventually, his mother did loosen her grip. "What the hell?"

"Just please try to be more careful, I could never bear to see the day you get hurt on that thing." Chas said, as he hugged his son.

"Look, I'm tired beyond reason right now, too tired to even shower, so thanks for burning whatever energy I had for that Mom, as for you Dad, I'll try to be careful, or at least not leave visible evidence that I'm not." Chuckie said tiredly.

"Oh no, you're showering, you smell like an old, filthy, wet dog." Kimi said.

"I can barely make it up the stairs." Chuckie complained.

"Chuckie, now!" Chas demanded.

"Fine, whatever." Chuckie said, as he turned around one more time, he called back to his family to tell them goodnight, and after he had showered and was all clean, Chuckie came to a realization, Ally was probably going to ask him out on a second date, what was he going to do for transportation?


	9. Chapter 9

_**Well, I've been gone a while, but I'm back. At the time I'm writing this, I've noticed that this fandom seems to have taken a break for a few days, so I'm updating my stories, and since I'm done with summer school (I didn't fail anything, it was extra credit) I have time to continue this story, and will hopefully be able to continue on a more rapid basis. Anyway, enjoy!**_

* * *

It had been 3 months since the first date. Chuckie and Ally had officially become boyfriend-girlfriend, and the two definitley seemed to feel that that person was crazy for them. They hadn't told the school yet, and Tommy was the only one aware that it was Ally who Chuckie was dating, so Kimi still was unaware that Chuckie was dating one of her friends' exes. With the 100th day of their relationship approaching, Chuckie decided to make dinner for her, in remberance of their second date. Chcukie had to invite her to his house for dinner and get his family out of the house. He made reservations for Chas and Kira at a nice italian place, and Kimi went to spend the night at Susie's place, as Kimi felt sorry for Lil, and didn't want her to do anymore to help the relationship work than she had already done. Chuckie was cooking the same meal he'd cooked before for her. He was making sushi, with a special recipe he'd developed one day at age 4, when his mother was teaching him and his father how to make it. Ally found it quite interesting how he knew how to use chopsticks properly, a skill he learned with only a few lessons from Kira, far faster than how long it took Chas, or even Kimi. Chuckie had made sure everything was just the way it was before. And to his satisfaction, it was.

"This is gonna be awesome!" he exclaimed

The door bell rang, and so Chuckie answered it.

"Hey there Chuckie!" Ally said in excitement. Knowing about how Chuckie was a minor fanatic of gardening (an interest he took from his late birth mother), made Chuckie a beautiful bouqet of exotic flowers she grew herself, also made some flowers out of fruit and chocolate, keeping his sweet tooth in mind. "I picked you some flowers."

"They're beautiful" Chukie said, sniffing them was like a breath of fresh air. She'd even taken his allergies into consideration. "Almost as sweet as you" Chuckie said, obviously using a cheesy pick up line.

Ally chcukled at this and pecked him on the cheek. "Let's just have some dinner."

The dinner went very nice. They fed each other sushi, and Chuckie even tried to teach her how to use the chopsticks, but no progress was really made, as she struggled so much, she got soy sauce all over her and some even flung out of the chopsticks into Chuckie's face. It was a fun, and hilarious date. Midnight came, and sure enough, Chuckie knew they were going to kiss to commemorate this.

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_**Please review!**_


	10. Chapter 10

Ally leaned in to kiss him, but the second Chuckie leaned in, his worst nightmare became reality, every member of the football team, and evey cheerleader popped out of his family's flower bushes, and shot him with water guns filled with the school mascot's urine, and then, they threw dirt and mud at him.

"What the hell?!" Chuckie asked in utter shock.

Ally laughed with the rest of the jocks and cheerleaders, still dry.

Savannah, Angelica's former frenemy walked up to Ally patting her on the back. "Well you guys, Ally has won our deal. Since she was the first cheerleader to trick a complete dork, nontheless a mentally messed up loser by the likes of Finster, she will be the head cheerleader next year after I graduate."

Chuckie, speechless by this cruel prank, just looked at Ally, hoping this wasn't true. But it was true, he was standing there reaking of filth, in front of a bunch of jerks. One of them even had a camera. He didn't want to, but all he could do, was collpase to the ground, as they continued to spray him some more, then, Ally, getting ready to take it to an all new low, kicked Chuckie, causing him to fall back. As he got up, barely able to stand, she pulled down his pants, and sprayed him in the crotch, to make it seem as if he'd "gone" in his pants. It was all done, and caught on tape.

"Hah, look at how pathetic you look." Ally yelled as she pointed at his crotch, as Chuckie panicked to pull up his pants. "Hah, you disgusting worm!"

Chuckie knew what she meant, she meant to more than just peeing his=self, and what she had said, was disgusting, and very much uncalled for. Worst would've probably come Chuckie's way, but Tommy finally arrived with Kira and Chas, and immediately, the front yard cleared up.

Tommy yelled at them as they ran off "You are all sick, go, all of you go, NOW!"

Chuckie was so stunned by what had happened he couldn't even acknowledge Tommy's actions.

"Chuckie, I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner, they had threatened me, I had to get your parents." Tommy said.

Chuckie was still stunned. He looked up to Tommy, and in cried "Just go, don't blame yourself, just let me be."

Tommy did as Chuckie wanted, and ran off, tears came streaming down his face, after how he failed to save his friend.

* * *

Chuckie sat there for 10 minutes. Chas came out, Chuckie reaked still, so chas had brought some body spray, and then, took out some baby wipes, and wiped at his son's face, only to be pushed away. Chas fought back tears, not knowing his wife was watching, scared, knowing that not only her worst fear had come true, but she knew how Chuckie was going to feel about Chas cleaning him.

"Will you please hold still" Chas said

"Stop cleaning me, it's so degrading" Chuckie yelled

"Well what do you want, you're covered in filth." Chas argued

"Don't treat me like the retard that I have been told I am." Chuckie yelled back. Chas was appalled by this. His own son had been labelled with such a term by not only others, but himself? W ho would use such a derogatory term?

"What do you mean by that?!" Chas asked.

Kira fumed at what Chuckie said. She ran and broke the father and son up before it could get worse. Chas, on the verge of tears, looked at Kira. He knew that there was something being hidden from him.

"Chuckie, what do you mean by, 'you're retarded'?" Chas asked, having calmed down.

Kira looked at Chuckie, she didn't speak, but her facial expression told Chuckie "He needs to know, you shouldn't hide this from him."

Chuckie walked away, "I'm just not ready" he cried. Running to the upstairs bathroom.

Chuckie locked the door behind him, and threw his bad clothes in the laundry, and stepped in the shower, hoping the hot water would calm him. Meanwhile, Chas called Kimi at Susie's. "I need you home, there's been an incident." He said sternly. Kira brought husband to the living room, she held his hand, as she prepared to come clean to Chas about something she'd been hiding for a year.

* * *

_**You all probably hate me right now, so feel free to call me whatever mean name you want if you plan to leave a review talking about the plot twist (probably wasn't that great of a plot twist though) Anyway, the next chapter is pretty big, so prepare yourself.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**So you're probably wondering why Chuckie, out of no where called himself retarded, well...**_

* * *

Kira looked at her husband. What she was about to tell him would surely destroy the man. "Chas, there is something that I need to tell you, I wanted to tell you sooner, but I couldn't do it to Chuckie." She said.

At the same time, Chuckie stood in the shower, running shampoo through his hair. He remembered how he often pulled his hair in stress, and all of the sudden, was taken to a flashback, the same one that at that exact moment, his mother was talking about to his father.

* * *

Since Chuckie had been diagnosed with annxiety disorder, Chas was a spy or home, Kimi at school, just as mentioned before. But Kira had an important role too. Chuckie started having therapy lessons to learn how to handle his problem. in the first week after Nicole's death, tests were done on Chuckie to see if he had any mental illnesses that were unknown to him.

Chuckie was found to have ADHD, and OCD, as well as a minor learning disorder, none of which shocked the young 15-year-old. But then, he was hit with news he wasn't expecting, news that would not only change his outlook on life forever, but his opinion of himself. The Doctor told the mother and son the news separately. Chuckie got the news first, and he couldn't believe what he had been told, he was shocked.

"Are you sure doc?" Chuckie asked, choking up.

"Yes Chuckie, unfortunately, that is the reality of the situation." the doctor replied. "I must tell your mom now, so please wait in the waiting room, annd have her come inside."

Chuckie did so. Once he was sure his mother was with the doctor, Chuckie left the waiting room, stepped into the hallway, and fell to his knees, crying, as he punched the floor in his anger. could it be true, was this the reality of his life?

Meanwhile, Kira walked into the room, and sat at the desk across from the doctor.

"So what are the results?" Kira asked

Like her son, Kira was not shocked by Chuckie's ADHD or OCD. Although a little confused about his learning disability, since Chuckie had never recieved less than a B in his entire life. But then, Kira was told the news that would shock her just like her son.

The test results, as well as Chuckie's behaviour of always being scared, nervous, and tidy added up. Chuckie matched the signs of having Asperger Syndrome. Chuckie was autistic.

* * *

"Chuckie's what?" Chas asked

"He has Asperger Syndrome, okay!" Kira yelled

Chas was shocked and could barely think. Chuckie, his boy, his pride and joy, his inspiration, the one thing that gave him motivation, his flesh and blood, his one and only son. Chuckie. Had autism, and this was kept from him for over a year.

"I know you're angry, but I must explain." Kira said.

* * *

Kira walked back into the empty waiting room, before she re-entered, she told herself to be strong, for Chuckie. Chuckie, her only son, the son she had always wanted, the son, who she made a promise to her husband, and a woman to be there for, and loved like her own. She saw her son, huddled in a corner, his eyes red. His arm and hand had some gauze on it. Chuckie had done something in his anger that hurt him. He saw Kira, and the two ran to each other. Chuckie began to sob uncontrollably.

"My life is over!" Chuckie whimpered loudly. "I'll never get married, or have kids, or maintain a social life on my own, or have a career. The rest of my life is not worth living!"

Kira was no longer able to be strong, as she held her son tightly to her, she released tears of her own. But Chuckie was 15. A hug, rubbing his back, rocking him back and forth, it wasn't going to calm him down, this was a grown teenager who thought he was worthless.

"Oh Chuckie, don't ever say that." Kira was crushed, no mother should ever hear what she heard. "I'm so sorry, I promise you everything will be okay."

"Okay? Chuckie asked, refusing to let go of his mother. "I'm retarded! I'll never live a normal life!"

Kira clung him tighter "No Chuckie, no, this not true, you aren't retarded, autism has nothing to do with retardation, they're 2 completely different things."

It took a while for Chuckie to calm down, on the ride home, Kira stopped at a gas station, when she came back into the car, Chuckie asked her an important question. He grabbed her hand with his bandaged one, and held it tight. He had to ask her of a big thing.

"Please don't tell Dad, Kimi, or any of my friends." Chuckie asked, still whimpering

Kira looked at Chuckie in shock again, and saw tears stream down his freckled face.

"Please promise me they won't know. I know my school knows, buy don't let them know."

Kira knew this was a big deal, and although she at first thought about telling Chuckie she had to tell the family, she felt the gauze on Chuckie's hand, she knew that she couldn't pressure Chuckie like that. So she promised to never tell without Chuckie being ready.

* * *

Chas was surprised, not to mention angry. Kira had hid this from him for a whole year.

"How could you?!" Chas yelled. Immediately, Kimi came in, and ran to the living room, she saw her yelling father, tears streaming from his eyes. "How could you hide this for a whole year!?" Chas yelled.

"What's happening here?!" Kimi asked. Chas put his coat on. "I need to go for a walk"

Kira was scared, but despite this, Kimi went to see what was wrong with her father.

Chuckie came in right when they left. Kira ran to him, this time, it was Chuckie's turn to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry Aiji!" Kira said "I shouldn't have told him"

"No mom, it's my fault, I shouldn't have made you promise." Chuckie said, embracing his mother the way she always did.

An hour later, Kimi and Chas returned. Both their eyes were even redder, and they looked at the other half of the Finster family.

"How could you mom?" Kimi said. "I know you meant well, but this is too serious, everyone in the group doesn't know."

Kira opened her mouth, but Chuckie quieted her, and took Kimi upstairs to his room, saying he would settle things with her.

Once alone, the husband and wife looked at each other.

"I'm sorry, look I know you feel you can't trust me, and probably feel betrayed, but I couldn't force Chuckie to come oput with something like this." Kira said.

Chas sighed "No, I'm not angry about that. Look Kira, don't you feel that I had a right to know. I mean, how could you hide this from me. I'm his father, he is my flesh and blood, don't you think I had just as much a right to know this, if not, more?"

"Chas, it was up to Chuckie, he chose who would know, not you. And even though I know that you being the biological parent, you feel like you are more worthy, but Chas, I'm telling you right now, never say that you are more a parent to Chuckie than I am, I wouldn't say it to you about Kimi, don't say that onto me." Kira said. She was stern about this comment from Chas. Blood didn't matter to her. She had raised Chuckie as her own and blood was no issue here.

Chas took that comment back, he knew he crossed the line there.

"I had no control over who Chuckie wanted to tell, this was his issue, and that was that." Kira reassured.

"I'm sorry dear, I don't expect you to forgive though." Chas said.

Kira got up and kissed her husband. "Of course I'll forgive you Koibito" she said, "Just remember that I had to hide this for Chuckie, he nneeded me to." She then went off to bed, leaving Chas in the living room, sitting, reflecting on this new information. He took out the same picture of him with Melinda and Chuckie, and sighed. "No matter what happens Chuckie, I don't care if you're autistic, I will always love you. You will always be my son."

* * *

_**I'd like you all to know that I'm not trying to say autistic people are retarded. I am in no way trying to insult autistic people. Most teeagers at Chuckie's age just sometimes mke that mistake. Chuckie's thoughts of autism does not reflect on mine.**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Well, after that bombshell, let's see how Kimi reacts to Chuckie explaining himself.**_

* * *

I can't believe you, my own brother, how could you hide this from me and Dad?" Kimi asked angrily, looking at Chuckie on his bed.

"Oh yeah!" Chuckie exclaimed as he got up "It's so easy to just come home and say, 'Hey Dad, sis, guess what, I'm autistic. I'm retarded and will never live my own life like a normal person. I'm gonna die alone, broke, and jobless." Chuckie said, falling back on his bed.

Kimi now understood why Chuckie was upset and hid things, he was embaressed, and forcing him to come out of this wasn't right.

"Is this why you're anxiety disorder worsened and eventually you developed depression?" Kimi asked.

Chuckie nodded, "I'm so sorry" Chuckie said, he covered his face annd began to sob again. "Look, I knpw you hate me right now, and if at school, you want to tell the others, go ahead, and if you feel it's necessary, seperate yourselves from me at school."

Kimi was now brought to tears, she grabbed Chuckie, and hugged him tight. "No Chucko, don't ever think that. I'll always be there for you." She kissed him on the forehead and held him tight. "I love you so much."

Chuckie pushed her away immediately. "No, trust me, after what I tell you, I won't deserve your love."

"If this is about Z and the fact that Ally lied about him dumping her-"

"Wait you knew it was Ally?" Chuckie cut her off

"Yes, Tommy told me."

"And she was never single?"

"No Chuckie, she used you." Kimi said.

Chuckie's heart sank yet again, and broke into tears again. Kimi pulled him in tight.

"There there Chuckie, we'll tell Z, he'll understand, and he needs to know about how she technically cheated on him just to be head cheerleader." Kimi said, trying to comfort him.

Kimi held Chuckie tight. It was awful, her brother and friend had been tricked by the same girl, and at school Monday morning, how would things unfold? How would she tell their friends? Did teachers ever talk about this to the students behind the backs of the Finsters? What did the other students think of Chuckie, knowing this about him? How many people were gonna see that video by then? How would Chuckie be treated by everyone? How was the group gonna move on from here and help him?

* * *

_**I was honestly planning on making Z a villainous character in this story, but I decided to scrap that. The next chapter will hopefully come soon guys.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Well guys, Chapter 13. Here we go.**_

* * *

Chuckie and Kimi walked into the school. The instant Chuckie saw Tommy, he asked to go talk with him in private before dismissal. Kimi agreed, and the siblings split.

"Hey buddy, look, I'm really sorry about what happened." Tommy said

"Like I said before, you're not at all to blame for this." Chuckie said

"Yes I am, I tried to stop him, but one of those Jocks had a knife, and a serious butterfly pocket knife, the kind you can do tricks with, and leave a permanently." Tommy said in shame. "I ran because that guy had a juvenile record, I knew I had a right to be worried, so I ran to where your parents were." Tommy said.

"How did you know that would happen." Chuckie asked.

"I went to your house to see you before the date, and once I got there, I overheard her talking with Savannah, and all those other jocks and cheerleaders." Tommy replied. "I was planning on calling you, but the guy with a knife pointed it at me, and took my phone, then chased me off. I ran as fast as I could to the restaurant your parents were at and told them everything. How Ally as using you, how she was cheating on Z with you, and what they were planning to do. I then told Kimi and told her everything. Kimi started crying on the phone, she was worried for you, I remember that. I promised her I'd do my best to stop it from happening, but when I would call you on your Mom's phone, you wouldn't answer."

Chuckie remembered that. It was because Chuckie and Ally had actually also had their first fight that night. They'd been making out. Ally had touched Chuckie inappropriately. Although they were making out, Chuckie didn't want to take things to far, so just ignored Ally movements thinking they were mistakes, after all, she knew Chuckie didn't want this. Eventually, they began fighting, Chuckie felt very uncomfortable. Eventually though Chuckie calmed down, and they just agreed to cuddle up and watch a romantic comedy. This eased the mood, and the 2 lovers were all of the sudden acting as if the fight had never happened. Chuckie realized this might've been why he didn't notice the phone ringing, and realized how Ally went as far with her sick plan as to even create distractions for Chuckie so he wouldn't answer the phone.

"Chuckie, what's wrong, why didn't you pick up my calls that night?" Tommy asked in concern, noticing his friend's zoned out facial expression.

Chuckie felt as if he was going to be sick, and ran to the bathroom.

"How sick could she be. Stoop so low as to violate me like that just for her plan!" Chuckie thought to himself.

Tommy, unaware of what Ally had done to his friend, could only chase after him, before Chuckie violently turned around, and yelled, not even in a normal angry way, but in a way that seemed almost demonic.

"GET AWAY, I NEED TO BE ALONE RIGHT NOW!" Chuckie yelled in the hallway. Teachers and students stared, but Chuckie didn't notice. All he saw was the floor, as he tried to cover his face with his hair (one of it's many purposes), running into the boy's bathroom, and locking himself in a stall.

Little did Chuckie know, he had left Tommy stunned, as any teacher who knew Chuckie began talking with their colleagues about the student, using the word "issues" numerous times. Students were laughing at Chuckie, many bullies and Jocks could be heard saying to their friends: "Looks like that retard dope Finster just went super sayan!" Tommy was confuse. Retard? Issues? What was happening, and was Chuckie okay? More importantly, was that even Chuckie?

* * *

Tommy calmed Chuckie dawn at lunchtime and was able to find out the whole story, and went straight to Ally, confronting her over this. Ally laughed at Tommy, and brushed him off, and Tommy was thrown into the school dumpster. Kimi sat her friends down. Chuckie was in the school's resource room, getting some extra tutoring for his math homework, as well as picking up some things for extra credit. Kimi wasn't able to find Z after school, so she took it as assumption that he'd gone home straight after school, and decided she would call him later. For now, she had to get some information to her friends.

"So what's up Kimi." Tommy asked.

"What's up right now seems to be how high your rank of stench!" Susie exclaimed, closing her nose. "Boy, when was the last time you hit the shower?"

"He was thrown into a dumpster." Dil said, picking dead insects out of the stitching of his sherpa. "I had to fish him out." Tommy took out 5 dollars and gave them to his brother, thanking him.

"Kimi, is this about Chuckie?" Lil asked concerned

"Yes Lil, it is." Kimi said, she then sighed. "You know how Chuckie was unable to hang out yesterday after his date?"

"Yeah." everyone said in unison.

"Well... how can I put this lightly.." Kimi said, seemingly dragging the subject.

"Out with it Kimi!" Phil said.

"Okay alright!" Kimi said, beginning to tear up. "Okay, so, you know about how Ally and Chuckie had their 100th day date the other day?"

"Yeah." the rest of the gang said.

"Ally used Chuckie." The group gasped, as Kimi continued. "The cheerleaders do this thing where the first 11th grader to go 100 days dating a 'hopeless loser' and then make a fool out of him at the moment when there should be a '100th day kiss' is elected as the next year's head cheerleader. Ally got it."

"Are you kidding me, I'm sickened, I almost can't believe this!" Phil said.

"They sprayed him with the mascot's urine, and threw mud and dirt at him. Ally even threw some in his face and then pulled down his pants and made it look like he pissed himself." Tommy said, taking over, as he saw Kimi was choking up.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Phil said in anger. "I don't believe it."

"It's true." Angelica said. "It's why I ditched the cheerleading squad. I'm mean, but not that mean."

"Plus I would've probably been the victim, and revenge would not be too pretty." Harold said, glaring at Angelica. He had a huge crush on her in middle school, but as he matured, he had outgrown trying to impress her.

"It gets worse" Dil said, checking his phone. "I just went on MeTube, guess what's the most trending 'comedy' video uploaded today."

"Oh God!" Kimi said. She hid her face in Tommy's chest. She couldn't bear to watch this. Chuckie being brutally tortured and humiliated. Then came the worst part: Ally pantsing Chuckie, and commenting on his (you know what.)

Lil was feeling awkward about the whole situation. She got up, and said something she knew there was a good chance of her regretting. "Wait, so this entire time, I've been in this heartwreck state because some chick was using Chuckie!"

Savannah, unknown to them, had overheard everything, and knew, she had to come up with a lie, in order to help protect Ally's reputation, and more importantly, her's.

Kimi stood up, and did something that she would've never done, she slapped Lil right in her face.

"How could you talk about that right now of all time!" Kimi yelled. "My brother is socially, and emotionally destroyed! I don't even know if I could even trust you to be his friend right now with what has just happened over the weekend, let alone his girlfriend, what with the attitude you have to the situation!" Kimi exclaimed. Dil paused the video and the whole group went silent, and stared at Kimi. Had she really just said, what they'd just heard?

Lil was now crying, and ran off into the school. She was crushed. Kimi just told her that she couldn't trust her to have a close relationship with her brother. "HER brother?" Lil thought "I've known that freako-chick's brother longer than she has known him."

* * *

Savannah could no longer take it, and revealed herself, laughing hysterically over what had just happened, ready to give a lie that would surely make the group hate Kimi.

"Hah! You're all talking so well of Chuckie. Kimi, were you even there?" Savannah asked.

"No..." Kimi whimpered

"That's right, here's what really happened." Savannah said, walking over to Kimi. "Your brother was actually planning on dumping Ally for street cred, hoping it could help his social status. He was paranoid Ally would break him off fist. Ally was crushed, so, we decided to put on a little act for Chuckie, to teach him not to try to 1-up a girl like that, especially one that had given him what Ally had entire group didn't buy this one bit, but Kimi, Kimi did, she fully believed it."

"I can't believe it" Kimi said "Why am I crying for such an awful person."

"Kimi, no, you're not buying this, right?" Tommy asked.

"Face it Tommy it makes sense, and Chuckie has lied before."

"But never this much"

"I'm going to confront him" Kimi said

"No, don't, he didn't do it, this will destroy your relationship with your brother."

"Who cares, the last thing I need is a jerky-retard of a brother anyway"

"Woah, 'retard' was uncalled for!" Phil exclaimed ready to get revenge on his sister's behalf, even with Kimi being a girl.

"No it wasn't, if you knew what I know about Chuckie, you'd understand, now if you all don't mind." Kimi turned and sprinted into the school, and all of the sudden, everyone was in a frenzy.

"HAH! She fell for it, I didn't even think she would!" Savannah exclaimed. "I thought Chinese people were supposed to be smart!"

The group had had enough of Savannah. Angelica and Susie both kicked the girl in the face, and picked her up, tossing her to Harold, who was holding a trash can. After reminding her for the God-Knows-How-Many-th time that Kimi is Japanesr, he and Phil tossed her in the same dumpster she had Tommy thrown in. Once Savannah was out of the way, the whole group was in a frenzy, how would they stop this, or would they even be able to?

* * *

Lil ran into Z in the hallway.Z was looking for Chuckie, but being the nice guy he was, he couldn't see Lil cry, and not ask if he could help her with what was wrong.

"Lil, what's wrong?" Z asked

"Kimi just said that I shouldn't be friends with Chuckie because I have a crush on him." Lil asked

"Yeah, I heard about what happened." Z said, clenching his fists. "I got to find Ally, I heard she's spreading lies about him, Savannah is in on it too. Kimi often will believe almost anything, so I fear for what Ally, AND Kimi might do to Chuckie." Z replied.

"Oh God!" Kimi said, "We got to find Chuckie fast."

Z nodded at this, and the 2 ran, hoping they could find their friend.

* * *

Chuckie was at his locker, putting books in his bag. He was all of the sudden tapped on the shoulder, and when he turned around, he saw the last person he wanted to see, Ally, and all her friends.

"What the hell do you all want?" Chuckie said.

"Woah Woah Woah" said the jock with the pocket knife sarcastically, as if trying to calm down a 5-year-old "Just chill bro, we were just talking about the 'playa' you are"

"Please just go okay." Chuckie said, getting annoyed. "I don't need to deal with a bunch of juvenile convicts, a bunch of future plastic surgery failure victims, and my slutty bitch of an ex-girlfriend, if that is even a name you have enough respect from me to have!"

"Woah, we got a badass over here!" yelled another jock "whatcha gonna do big guy"

Ally smirked at this, she knew what was about to happen. "You know what your friends think of you Chuckie?"

"Yes, I heard about the lies you're spreading, and quite frankly, I don't think I want to deal with someone as disgusting as you, especially with how you violated me the other night." Chuckie replied.

The mention of this irked Ally, as her friends all of the sudden began staring at her. "Oh come on, do you really think I wanted to get with you, I was trying to make you feel good about yourself before I destroyed and humiliated you. Do you really think any girl would want a guy with the kind of package you have to bring?" all the jocks began to laugh, forgetting about what Ally had even been accused of in the first place.

"Well you seemed pretty into it through all your acting" Chuckie lied. He knew what she was saying, and he was quite disgusted. To even think he could ever date a girl who even thought about things like that was revolting to him. He decided to say something witty, although he would soon regret this.

"Oh my God, you are disgusting, you know what, screw you!" Ally exclaimed. She threw a few punches, although Chuckie, using the flexibility he had, was able to dodge this. "You're getting on my nerves! Guys, hold him down!" Ally said

"I could take this" The Jock who was holding the camera the other night said.

"Nah, this'll be more painful for him if I do it!" Ally replied "You get the camera out." 2 of the jocks pinned Chuckie against a locker. and instantly, before the boy could think, Ally went full force. She threw a low blow, earning a few tears to start with, then his stomach took a few kicks, and some went to his chest, and all of the sudden, Chuckie stopped breathing for a few seconds. Every teacher in school was in the teacher's lounge, on the entire opposite side of the large school. They couldn't hear Chuckie gasping for air or help. Ally continued to viciously attack. She Kicked him in the nose, and blood gushed all over. She kicked his forehead, blood came gushing out from there too. Soon, it was mayhem. She Kicked his mouth, and the boy's braces were shattered, bits of metal flying from his mouth. He even spitted out one of his teeth, luckily, it was his last baby tooth. She punched his face, and this shattered his glasses, and earned him a black eye. This kind of brutality continued for what seemed like to Chuckie, forever. Until Lil and Z finally found them. Z ran to his ex-girlfriend and pushed her out of the way, and tackling her.

"How could you!" Z screamed "How could you do this to me!"

Ally was petrified, she didn't know what Z was capable of, and didn't want to know. "Babe, it's not what it looks like-"

"You cheated on me, told my friend that I broke your heart and dumped you, violated him, and now, beating the snot out of him while he is powerless-"

Z was all of the sudden snatched up by the pocket knife jock, and the knife was held at his neck. "You better scram and take the chick with you"

Chuckie was barely able to breath, but despite having no glasses and a black eye, he saw his friends in danger because of him, and he didn't want that. So, in the same demonic way he yelled at Tommy that morning, he yelled at Z and Lil "GET OUT AND GET THE REST OF THE GANG, WE CAN EVEN OUT THIS WITH THEIR HELP"

Z did so, and he and Lil fled the scene. The jocks and cheerleaders guffawed at this maniacally, they found his anger and misery hilarious.

"Now where were we... oh yes!" Ally said, and threw more punches and kicks at Chuckie, specifically his chest.

Z and Lil eventually found the rest of the group, except for Kimi, who was no where in sight. They told them the whole situation.

"Oh God, where is he!?" Tommy exclaimed

"By the science wing!" Z said

The group banded together and ran to Chuckie, and sure enough, he was still where he was before, being kicked and punched repeatedly. On their way, they'd found the Japanese club, and the group managed to outnumber the group, and all left except the pocket knife jock, Ally, who was more interested in beating Chuckie, who despite the 2 jerks holding him down having left, didn't have the strength to escape. Tommy ran to punch the pocket knife jock, but was immediately thrown into a locker, but not before receiving a painful wedgie. Z and Phil were both pummeled into a trash can, and Dil, well, he surrendered immediately. The japanese club and Lil tried getting Ally away from Chuckie, although the pocket knife bully came and held his knife to their necks. They knew they were powerless. Right then though, Ally miraculously stopped. She kicked Chuckie one more time in each limb, hi stomach, and face, then punched his head, saying "It can't get any worse in there anyway!" and stomped right on his chest. She laughed, and her and the jock left.

Lil got up, and told the Japanese club to go call the paramedics, Z and Phil helped Tommy out of the locker, and Dil ran to tell Vice Principal Pangborn with Angelica. Susie got out a first-aid kit, and Harold got Chuckie's inhaler from the locker, which did no avail. Lil went up to Chuckie and tried to find a pulse. Chuckie heart beat was abnormal, and he wasn't breathing, Harold handed her a wet cloth and she wiped the blood from his face, but it didn't stop flowing. Chuckie was losing blood fast, barely conscious, and gasping for air. Despite that, he said 2 things to Lil.

"Thank you Lil, you saved me." Chuckie moaned.

Lil took his head and placed it on her lap as she sobbed, hoping her friend would be okay. "Anytime Chuckie" She kissed his forehead, and when Chuckie smiled at this, Lil knew she loved Chuckie for sure, as more than any childhood crush could describe. Ther next thing Chuckie said though, was going to take Lil from tears of joy, to tears of sympathy.

"Where's Kimi." Chuckie moaned in pain, crying from not being able to bear the emotional and physical agony he was in. "I need to talk to my sister, where's Kimi, I need Kimi!"

The whole group heard this, and when they saw chuckie, in pain, crying for the one person, his one and only sister, who was right now, in belief that he was the bad guy in this whole catastrophe, they all cried as well.

"Chuckie, you should know she kind of thinks you're the bad guy right now." Phil said taking a place next to his sister.

Chuckie didn't believe, he just couldn't. "Don't be stupid Phil, Kimi would never think against me like that." He replied

"No Chuckie, she really-"

Dil and Angelica returned with Pangborn, at the same time, the Japanese club returned, although they'd brought someone too.

"Lil! What did you do to him!" Kimi exclaimed

Phil got up and stood in front of his twin. "Lillian didn't do anything but stop this!" He said, walking up to Kimi.

"It's true." Chuckie moaned, his breath almost completely gone.

Kimi ran to Chuckie and held his head in her arms. "Chuckie, Oh God, I'm so sorry." She cried

* * *

Pangborn turned to Dil and Angelica. "Dylan, Angelica, I thought you were saying Charles was getting harrassed."

"He was, look at him." Dil said, pointing at the mangled redhead

"Mr. Pickles, there is no way this qualifies as harassment."

* * *

"Chuckie, Please speak to me!" Kimi cried, blood was spilling all over her, all she could think about was her brother, and the awful way she was just thinking of him.

"Kimi..." Chuckie breathed, and inhaled one more time, "Don't belive them, I love you so much, you're smart enough to know what's right and not, you know... what they said is not true... I'm not the guy they say..." Chuckie tried to breathe again, but he couldn't, and fainted.

* * *

"Sir, what do you mean?" asked Dil

"What I'm saying is that this is beyond some sort of childish horseplay! This was downright unlawful aggravated assault."

* * *

"Chuckie, Chuckie please wake up." Kimi begged, tears falling down her cheek. The paramedics took Chuckie and put him on a stretcher, and he and Kimi were taken on to the ambulance, while Susie told the paramedics where her mother worked so Chuckie would be in the care of someone he knew.

On the ambulance, Kimi called the Java Lava, Chas answered, although it was on speaker phone, so everything could be heard.

"Java Lava, we got coffee, food, and our famous toffee, Chas speaking, how may I-"

"Dad get to the car and get Mom!"

"Kimi! What's wrong?"

"Dad, you gotta get to the hospital, Chuckie's been assaulted!"

Kimi heard her father shriek in terror, and her mother screaming at what she'd heard just happened, but despite it, all Kimi could think was one phrase:

"What have I done, WHAT HAVE I DONE!"

* * *

**_Well... That was brutal. Chuckie is now in a life or death matter, Kimi amd Lil are still pissed at each other... And I just knocked my banana down with my elbow because I was typing too fast. Anyway, please review on what you expect to happen. Will I kill off Chuckie? Will I make Kimi and Lil full on enemies? How will the guys react to Chuckie confessing about his autosm? Find out in Chapter 14! PLEASE REVIEW!_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Well, That was a pretty**_** crazy**_** Chapter, now, all those questions must be answered!**_

* * *

Kimi couldn't believe it. She was looking at her brother. Her unconscious brother. Her mangled, beaten brother. The doctors had finally been able to stabilize him and get him breathing again, although he was not yet awake. Chuckie's forehead was covered in gauze, his nose bandaged, his teeth rebraced, and his ribs in a cast. Chuckie was still in pain, asleep, but Kimi knew how to tell when Chuckie was in pain. Kira and Chad ran in, and they hugged their daughter.

"What on earth happened to him?!" asked Chas

"I told you, he was assualted, by Ally." Kimi replied

"How is he?" Kira asked, rushing to the opposite bedside of Chas.

"I can tell he's still in pain even though asleep." Kimi replied

"Oh God look at him. What kind of Father am I? Melinda would never forgive me for allowing this to happen." Chas said, clutching his son's hand "Who could do something like this, and why?"

"It was Ally,"

The parents both sighed in anger when hearing this, Kira was on the verge of tears, Chas had already descended to that.

"And she did it because according Z and Lil, everyone was harrassing Chuckie because they'd seen the video, and when she said something about his autism and... a different part of him... and Chuckie replied with something witty, and when she felt like Chuckie tried to 1-up her, she got the jocks to hold him against a locker, and she this was the end result."

"She beat him up for being a smart ass"

"They ran past me when escaping yelling 'we beat your brother's retarded ass' so I guess Chuckie's cleverness caused this, either that, or that bitch just wanted to hurt Chuckie even more."

"I can't hear this anymore!" Kira cried "I'm just completely sickened."

"When do the doctors think he'll be waking up?" Chas asked

"Dr. Carmichael can't assume anything right now, but he should be waking up in no longer than..."

Chuckie all of the sudden moaned again, opened his eyes and sat up.

"Zero seconds."

"Oh Chuckie! Thank God you're okay!" Kira said, as she hugged her son, kissing him until his face went from pale white to red.

"How are you feeling buddy." Chas asked, as he hugged his son, still slightly crying.

"I dunno. I'm in a lot of pain though, and I can't tell why."

"Chuckie do you remember anything at all?" Kimi asked

"I remember Ally beating me on camera, while two jocks held me down," Chuckie started crying, "and they called me retard and loser and stuff like that"

Chas held his son tightly. He wanted to talk with Chuckie in private though. moments after this occured, the entire gang arrived.

"How is he?" Z asked

"He looks... Broken" Dil said

"Doctor said he's gonna be fine." Kimi replied

Dr. Carmichael walked in "But he may need some rest still, so could you all please leave, I know you all wanted to see him, but he still needs some time to rest."

The group agreed and left, Kimi, upon leaving turned around and hugged her brother, Chuckie handed her a piece of paper, telling her to read it in private, Kimi turned and left, Kira went with them out, but Chas wanted to stay behind.

"I really need to talk with him." Chas said

Dr. Carmichael left the room as well.

"You are so much like your mother, more than you think." Chas said

"How?" Chuckie replied, he saw so much of himself in his father than mother

"You make sacrifices for what you believe is right no matter what the risk, you're brave when it's most needed, face it Chuckie, your freckles aren't the only thing you got from her, her personality, you got nearly all that." "And something else now apparently" Chas thought to himself.

"I guess"

"I'm sorry I yelled at your Mom the other night, and I'm sorry for getting mad over this whole autism fiasco, you'd just, never been scared of me before. What made you unsure of how I'd treat you?"

"I thought you'd be upset about the situation, and worry about the future."

"Well don't do it again. I'll always love you, and think of you with pride, no matter what."

The father and son agreed to this.

"So Kira was the only one who knew besides the psychologist?" Chas asked

"He told my school immediately, I guess all my teachers didn't care about privacy at all."

"Well what's been done is done. So is this why you and Kira all of the sudden became close over the past year?"

"Yeah, I guess, I don't know. I guess after that incident, I felt more comfortable talking with someone who had kniwledge of my problem, but didn't treat me differently. I was scared to tell anyone else after my school started treating me differently, and since she was the only person who didn't change after finding out, I came to trust her more than others."

"Well why would you think I'd react differently from Kira?"

"Well you've always been pretty protective, and I know how important I am to you so I didn't want to worry you."

"Well don't worry about me anymore, we're in this together. My son goes down, I go down with him."

"Thanks Dad."

"No problem. And promise me you'll never contemplate how much you're worth, because to me, you'll always be the most important thing in my life, and I could never bear to live life without you. To me, both your Moms, Kimi, and all your friends, always remember Chuckie, to us you're more than 1 in a Million"

Chuckie and his Dad high fived to that, except the clutziness of them caused them to instead miss their hands and hit each other's foreheads.

"Can you ask Dr. Carmichael if I can get out of bed now, I'm not really tired at all and the gown is uncomfortable to wear?"

The father and son laughed at this. Chas got up and asked the doctor, after some tests, Chuckie and Chas left the room, and went to meet everyone else.

But before he did, Chuckie asked his father for something.

"I know that you already told about the whole tooth fairy thing, but can you still give me the dollar?" Chuckie asked, pointing at the empty whole his last baby tooth once sat.

They had a good laugh over this, a joke that would hopefully be a good memory between them for years to come.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kimi had to sit her friends down again. Kimi had been instructed on the piece of paper Chuckie gave her to tell their friends everything, and how he didn't want to hide anymore. Chuckie wanted to tell them himself, but was afraid of the kind of response coming from his friends that he feared would come from his father. So he had Kimi tell them, thinking they would react differently.

"Guys, I'm really sorry about what I did. Look, I need to tell you all something important. Chuckie's been kind of hiding with this for a while, and until Saturday, our mom was the only one besides him and our school who knew." Kimi said. Kira knew what she was about to tell, so she was ready for this, and knew what was coming. "Our Chuckie, he... he..." Kimi couldn't say it, she was just too emotional, but she knew she had to tell. "He's got autism okay, that's why I called him retarded at school, I was angry with him and it just came out, but Chuckie is autistic."

The whole group gasped.

"Wait, retardation and autism are meant to denote different things. Retardation denotes low intelligence and autism is a mental disability" Phil said, clearly missing the big picture of things

"Thank you Phil, finally someone who can tell the difference." Kira said

"Focus please!" Kimi begged

"There are 3 kinds of autism though Kimi." Harold said

"Yeah what kind was his diagnosis" Z asked

"High functioning Asperger Syndrome" Kimi replied

"How long has he been hiding this, and why?" Tommy asked. His facial expression gave the indication that he was furious with Chuckie, how could he hide this! Chuckie was definitely coming off as a hypocrite right now to him.

Kimi broke into tears, and could no longer speak, so Kira took over.

"About a week after Nicole's death, when Chuckie was at the psychologist's office." she said. "I know you're angry Tommy, but the problem was that the school was already treating him differently, kids were treating him differently, and even the teachers were treating him special because of this. Chuckie didn't want the special treatment, he was being treated different, just like how he had always been by nearly every student. Chuckie was becoming more estranged from the rest of his peers by the teachers. He didn't know if you would all change as well and got scared. He didn't even tell his father, or Kimi"

"Then why did he tell you?" Tommy asked. This was an offensive question to some extent, but everyone knew this was not the real Tommy speaking.

"I just got lucky and so happened to be at the office when the news was given." Kira said in defense "And don't think I was happy to know this, do you think it's easy to hear your own son say that his life is not worth living, that he believes he'll never have a career, have children or find love? he was contemplating his own worth, and I had to hear it." This was hard for her to come out with.

Tommy all of the sudden went from angry to sad. His own friend was suicidal at one point?

Lil was sitting at a seperate table, crying already. She thought to herself. "Chuckie thinks he'll never find love?" Lil thought. After the experience at school, she knew she was feeling emotions for Chuckie that only an adult could feel for their soulmate. "I don't care if you're autistic, you're still Chuckie, you're no different, I still like you a lot."

Kira wanted to add one last bit of information to finally help Tommy get the full picture. "And a few weeks later, Chuckie's anxiety worsened, and he developed depression"

Tommy knew about that, and he now knew what had caused it. "I am such a dirtbag" Tommy thought to himself.

"Tommy, it's okay." Kimi said "I made the same mistake too."

Tommy wrapped his arms around her, and she kissed him, he decided that when he saw Chuckie, he would go up to him, and ensure him, that he was still Chuckie.

* * *

Chuckie and Chas joined everyone downstairs. Everyone ran straight to Chuckie.

"Hey buddy, how you feeling." Tommy said high fiving him

"A lot better, the cast is a little uncomfortable, but the doctor said I should only need it for 12 hours, then come bnack tomorrow, my ribs might not have really broken at all, but they might be in a delicate state after the beating I took." Chuckie replied

Kira hugged her son tightly. "Well I know one thing is for sure. Somebody assaulted you and that means this was not bullying, but crime." Kira replied

"Yeah, check out the medical bill." Kimi said

"Money is no issue with Chuckie, Kimi." Chas said "But I do plan on taking legal action towards this."

"I'm there, we can all be the witnesses and once they see how badly injured Chuckie is, this will be an easy court case." Phil said

"Definitely!" Tommy said.

"So we take them to court. When? this is a crime, we're not suing." Chuckie asked

"Technically, we can sue for Physical harassment." Angelica answered

"Yeah, you're right. I'll fill that in." Chuckie replied.

"As for the crime part, Pangborn already called the cops on them on your behalf." Dil said

"I guess that means I owe Pangborn a favor huh." Chuckie said

"Just bring him that sushi you make, he loves that stuff, remember that time you gave it as an apology for one of your idiot pranks and he lifted your detention." Kimi replied

Everyone laughed about this, even the parents.

"All right then, that's settled." Chas said. "How about we all call your parents and have them come get you all."

* * *

Later that night Chuckie was sitting in his room, looking at the form he'd picked up from the court. His father was woirking a late shift at the Java lava with Kimi and Kira was at a yoga class. She'd invited Chuckie, as she'd done so before, but Chuckie denied the offer. The idea of doing yoga with his Mom was possibly the most weirdest thing ever, and it would be quite embarrassing if anyone he knew were to see that. "I don't think I've ever seen a guy do yoga without religious involvement ever" Chuckie thought.

Chuckie was almost finished filling the form when he heard a knock on the door, he left his room, and went downstairs to answer the door, where a 2 police0 officers stood. "Hello young man, are you Charles Finster Jr.?" said the male officer

"Yes I am, I'm better known as Chuckie." he replied

"Were you by any chance the victim of an assault today committed by Allison Manson at 3:30 PM at La Cañada High School." the female officer asked

"Yeah.." Chuckie said. He was a little embarrassed, being that this was a girl who had beaten him up. But the officers didn't seem to ridicule him.

"I'm assuming she had some guys hold you down huh?" the female officer asked

Chuckie nodded.

"Well that makes sense eh Cirie" the male officer joked elbowing his partner, who gave him a glare. "It was just a joke."

Cirie sighed, and looked at Chuckie. We have some bad new Chuckie, you see, Ally escaped from the police car, we've been searching for hours, and wondering if she's shown up here.

Chuckie nearly fainted at hearing this. "No, I haven't, are you saying she's on the loose?"

"Unfortunately yes." Cirie's partner said. "We want you to know we are looking for her, and we want you to lock all doors, and windows, while your at it, call your folks, if your parents are home she'll be less likely to come back, so we recommend you staying with them or a group of friends more often and not alone."

"Alright officers, thank you, also, how long should it be thast I'll be awaiting my court case?" Chuckie asked

"About a month from now if she is captured by then." Cirie replied.

"Alright, thank you, and if something comes up, I'll let the department know." Chuckie replied

"Thank you" the 2 officers said. They asked for some directions to a coffee shop and so Chuckie told them about his father's place, hoping that with a whole police department being regular customers for the Java Lava, at least one good thing could come from this.

Chuckie ran to his room, and began dialing Tommy's number, not wanting to send his family into a frenzy, although right when he was about to dial the last number, Chuckie opened his bedroom door to find the last thing he wanted to see. Ally manson, sitting on his bed. Chuckie saw Ally and immediatley chanbged the number he was dialing to 911, but before he could answer, Ally took the phone, and smashed it on his head.

"Hello love." Ally said, pinning Chuckie to the ground.

"What do you want from me!" Chuckie yelled, noticng his open bedroom window.

"You took my boyfriend, my chance for head cheerleader, now you're trying to take away my freedom,m and now, I will take something _you _deem important." Ally replied.

She took out what looked like a pebble, and choked Chuckie, the boy opened his mouth gasping for air, but instead, Ally threw the pebble inside. Chuckie was forced to swallow the pebble, which he did. Seconds later, Chuckie realized he hadn't swallowed a pebble, that was a pill, a sleeping pill. Chuckie was getting drowsy fast, and it had just entered his system.

Ally was ready, and without thinking, she did the unthinkable.

* * *

**_Well, hope you guys enjoyed that Chapter, feel free to give a review! What has Ally done? What happens to Chuckie? How will the Finster's and their friends cope with the events that await them, find out in Chapter 15!_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Yikes, what's Ally up to, let's find out._**

* * *

"I'm going to juvie, something I'm not ready for, and you know what, I think your perfect way to pay would be for me to make you do something you're not ready to do." Ally said. She then unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down.

"No, No, No, No, NOOOOOOOOOO!" Chuckie yelled demonically, he then heard knocking on the door downstairs, he heard Tommy calling, saying he wanted to check up on him.

Ally pulled down the redhead's underwear and unclothed herself. Chuckie was petrified, was she really going to do this. She'd already assaulted him, was she just deciding to do this for fun. To her, was this some sort of revenge, and for what? What had he done to her that she hadn't deserved?

Chuckie tried to squirm away, but his rib cast made it impossible. He could barely move. She'd pinned him down. Chuckie then all of the sudden did what he hoped he wouldn't, cried. He begged her to leave him and get off. It was in-dignifying, being that he was man, and when had there ever been a story in the news of a woman raping a man, but what other emotion could his body feel other than sadness, she was about to do something to him that was wouldn't ever heal. Chuckie barely had the ability to open his eyes, but in his rage, did the unthinkable. Ally shushed his screams, climbed onto him, and whispered...

"go to sleeeeeep..."

This was enough, Chuckie screamed demonically once more, overcoming the effect of the pill, and got up, and pulled up his underwear, Ally got up too in fear, but as she stepped back, fell out the boy's window. Chuckie all of the sudden heard police sirens, knowing that his call had reached the 911 operators and that authorities had been sent to his home, Chuckie finally gave into the pill, and collapsed.

* * *

_**HOLY CRAP! I can't even believe that this has been written, and I've wrote it. Just take a few moments to think about all this. Before going to the next Chapter because holy crap! I don't mean for this to be a sexual fic, this is all meant to be about Chuckie fighting depression and his dark present. Anyway, please review, I love the support you guys give, it's awesome, so thank you.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**So Chuckie just nearly got raped, and you're all probably thinking... "What the hell Christian?!" well.. I dunno, I just finished writing that Chapter as I make this so I honestly have no idea what you guys think of me right now. Anyway, let's look at the aftermath.**_

* * *

Chuckie was out for not too long. Only about 5-10 minutes as the pill wasn't meant to be that strong, but give artificial erections. Chuckie still had his pants around his ankles, so it was quite humiliating when he'd awoken to his sister and Tommy, looking at him, while Kimi tried to pull up his pants for him, thinking he was still asleep.

"What, what are you doing." Chuckie asked

"Thank God you're okay!" Kimi exclaimed, carefully jumping onto her brother, hugging him

"Do you remember anything?" Tommy asked

"Yeah, Ally broke in to the house, but she fell out the window." Chuckie replied, finally prying his sister off of him.

Tommy got a call from his parents, and they wanted him home immediately. "Well, it seems like I got to get out of here. Chuckie, my Mom has called your parents, so they'll be on their way."

"Thanks Tommy." Chuckie replied. Tommy then left the house. With the 2 siblings alone, Kimi got Chuckie to sit up straight. They had about 15 minutes to kill, which left enough time for Kimi to talk with Chuckie about the whole situation with Ally.

"So she escaped them huh?" Kimi asked, sitting next to Chuckie

"Yeah." Chuckie said "So how instense of a fight did she put with the cops?"

Kimi all of the sudden came to a realization. Chuckie didn't know about what had just happened.

"Chuckie..." Kimi stammered "She ran off, she... she tried to hotwire your motorcycle, but Tommy stopped her, so she stole our neighbours car, and rode away."

Chuckie was all of the sudden frozen in fear.

"It's okay bro, there is a small chance she'll be coming back, and Mom will be driving us to school, and dropping us off right at the door from no on, and picking us up there too." Kimi ensured.

But that wasn't what worried Chuckie. What he was scared of, was that there was a woman, who had just broken into his house, drugged and nearly raped him, and she was still out there.

"She's still out there." Chuckie's whisper almost went unnoticed "After what she did, she's still out there"

"Chuckie, everything is gonna be okay" Kimi said

"She's still out there"

"Chuckie, what's wrong?"

"She's still out there" the redhead repeated, with a blank look on his face, walking towards his window, struggling in pain.

"Chuckie" Kimi said, leading him back to his bed "Chuckie, what happened? What did she do?"

Chuckie was too scared to talk, he needed the whole family, he needed their help. "Call Dad, make him come home now" Chuckie said, bursting into tears once if, he hadn't done it enough times in the past 3 days, it was shocking he hadn't dehydrated.

Kimi ran to the phone, and called her father. She thought to herself: "Oh God, what has she done to him?"

* * *

Chas and Kira finally arrived and once they saw Chuckie, they knew, Ally had done something to him. They each walked up to him, and sat on his bed, and Chuckie told them what had happened.

"Chuckie, what happened, what did Ally do?" Kira asked

"Ally..." Chuckie whimpered "she drugged me"

"Oh my God Chuckie!" Chas exclaimed, nearly collapsing into his wife's arms

"And then..."

Kimi knew what Chuckie was about to say. "Please no.." she thought

"She pulled down my pants and underwear"

"Oh God!" Kimi exclaimed

"She climbed on me, and told me to go to sleep. ... s-she tried to rape me."

"Oh my poor Aiji!" Kira cried. She'd not spoken at all, trying to stay calm, but she couldn't. "Oh my poor Aiji, my little Chuckie-san, oh how could I let this happen!" She said, wrapping her arms around him.

"This sicko cannot be left to roam free!" Kimi yelled "Dad, call Betty, have her start up that whole neighbourhood watch thing."

"I'm way ahead of you Kimi!" Chas said. He was already dialing the Deville's number.

* * *

"Deville house, Betty Speaking" Betty Deville, Phil and Lil's mother answered the phone.

"Betty, we need to break out the neighbourhood watch, and bring more than ever." Chas demanded

"Woah Chazzy, I like to hear you taking charge here, what's happening?"

"Betty, you know how Chuckie's ex-girlfriend was arrested for assaulting him?"

"Yeah, I heard she's on the loose, I've already asked the Pups if they saw anything, but Phil had nothing and Lil's been kind of out of it all afternoon."

"We've now got her as an attempted rapist, she's trying to get revenge, I can't leave my son home alone anymore now."

"Oh man! This Chick is going wacko! Don't worry Chazzy, we'll find her, I'll call Lucy and Randy, you call Stu and Didi, have them tell Drew and Charlotte."

"On it!" Chas replied He hung up the phone, and sat in his room. "I promise you Chuckie, she'll regret this."

* * *

_**Well, that was, quite an aftermath. I hope you all enjoyed this emotional little part of the story. I don't plan to write some sort of dramatic revelation for Chuckie telling the gang, they can find out through their parents. Please review.**_


	17. Chapter 17

Chas organized a meeting with all the parents. Each family was assigned a specific part of their area to search for Ally. Stu and Didi were to monitor the half of the neighbourhood they lived in. The Carmichaels took the other half with the Finsters. The Devilles were to monitor the Java Lava's neighbourhood, and Drew & Charlotte took the areas around the city bank, right next to the big parks and mall.

The gang was hanging out in Chuckie's room. Chuckie felt guilty. His friends were all now under the over-protective shield of their parents. He felt that had he never dated Ally this wouldn't have ever happened.

"This is all my fault guys, I shouldn't have asked out Ally."

"You got that second part right." Lil muttered in annoyance from just hearing Ally's name.

"You didn't see what she had coming. No one could've, that's the point of lying, the person has no idea of the truth and can't control what happens at that point." Tommy added

"True, but I could've stopped it. If only I'd told Kimi, or asked Z if it was true abour him dumping her. I should've gone into things more prepared."

Angelica got up "Well, what's been done is done Finster. How about you cut it out with this big baby attitude and kick it into overdrive and find her."

"I know Angelica, and I will, I'm just kind of ashamed."

"Well everything will be okay. You should only worry about yourself, alright." Susie said, ruffling Chuckie's hair "I promise you, we are the last thing you should be worried about."

This lit the fire under Chuckie's butt, he was ready.

The next night, every family began their first night of investigation. Chuckie had spent hours researching, learning as much as he could about investigation and criminal psychology, hoping he could learn to see things in Ally's perspective. Chuckie was ready. He had a spy camera on his hat, hidden microphone under his hoodie, a pocket camera, and a golf bag full off sports items such as a basebal bat, cricket bat, hockey stick, golf club, and many more. Chuckie walked out, and entered the living room, everything was unnoticeable, he was wearing all black clothing, it was perfect.

"Who's ready?" Chuckie asked his family. It was then he noticed that only Kimi and Chas were dressed in black as well. Kira was still in her room. "Dad, where's Mom?"

"Oh Chuckie. I know you want to come, but I'm just too scared to let you go out in particular. I'm sorry, but you have to stay behind."

"Why isn't Mom going though?" Chuckie asked his father

"I'm sorry Chuckie, but I just can't leave you home alone anymore. Someone's gotta watch you and keep you safe."

* * *

He couldn't be home alone. Chuckie now was experiencing the kind of treatment he feared from his autism. He felt as if his father couldn't trust him to look after himself. Chas was just outside the house, and he thought Chuckie couldn't look after himself? Chuckie was angry, furious. He couldn't take it. Rage built up within him to the point where he couldn't contain it. He began with simply screaming, within seconds, he got angry to the point where he flipped over his chair, and book shelf. Kira heard the noise, and ran to his room. When she entered, Chuckie glared at her, bloodshot eyes staring at her, and Chuckie yelled, and at her. His mother. He felt betrayed and lied to. Chas promised to not treat Chuckie differently, and he'd done exactly that. He was right to have hidden it from Chas, he should've, and he explained this all to his petrified mother.

"How could he do this!" Chuckie yelled, breaking down in tears, sliding down his wall, "how could he!"

"No, Chuckie, you're being ridiculous!" Kira exclaimed "your Father is trying to protect you!"

"Protect me from what? I was prepared, and we were going to be searching right in front of the damn house!"

"Chuckie, to Ally, you're enemy number 1!"

"Then why can't the whole family go, and leave me on my own in the house, you were prepared to help them. Dad even said to my face that you had to stay behind to watch me. I'm 16 and I need someone to watch me?!"

"Chuckie, she could come in here just like she did the other night."

"Well if she wouldn't be caught doing something like that, then Dad and Betty run a pretty bad night watch."

Kira was fed up with this, and showed obvious signs of this, not that Chuckie cared "Chuckie why are you being so stubborn?"

"Because Dad thinks I can't look after myself."

"He never said that"

"He said that he can't leave me home alone and that someone needs to watch me. That's humiliating"

Kira took this into account. Chuckie's worst fear had come true. His father was treating him differently, and Chuckie was losing it because of that. Chuckie didn't want to be treated special just because he was the victim, but Chas was being protective of Chuckie.

"I just didn't want things to change, and that was what happened. How can I ever trust him again?"

"Chuckie, all I can say is that he loves you, and doesn't want to take a risk with you. Please, just cut him some slack and calm down."

"Screw that, and screw this whole thing. A chick tried to destroy me physically, emotionally, and mentally, and now, as she roams free, I'm being treated like I'm incapable of finding her."

"Whatever, you want to think that, it seems I can't convince you otherwise. Just, clean up this damn mess." Kira said, she no longer felt like dealing with him.

Chuckie didn't feel like arguing anymore, so he just did that. For the rest of the night, he decided, his father wasn't going to stop him, and at that, took out a telescope, a pair of binoculars, and began looking throughout his street for Ally.

* * *

When Kimi and Chas returned, they were given word of what Chuckie had said and done. Chas had gone straight to his son's room. This confrontation was not going to be easy.

"So I'm a liar huh Chuckie?" Chas asked, coming into his son's room.

"Yes, you tell me that you'll always treat me the same way, regardless of this whole autism thing."

"Chuckie, it's easy to say that when you think that the girl that nearly destroyed my son physically, emotionally, and mentally, is now roaming free looking possibly for revenge. The fact that I have your mother looking after you doesn't have anything to do with your autism."

"Well you were just outside."

"That doesn't mean anything Chuckie. She could sneak in with ease."

"Whatever"

"Don't answer me with 'whatever', understood."

"Dad, you broke a promise to me, and a huge one at that."

"Chuckie, you may not understand now, but you will later on"

"Understand what, my Dad thinks I can't look after my own damn self!"

"Don't use that tone with me young man."

"Go ahead and ground me. I want you to punish me. Maybe then, you'll see that I am capable of maturing."

"Chuckie, I'm fed up with this okay, just, give me a break. This is ridiculous. You're acting like a child."

"See, you see me as a child, not an adolescent, this is what I predicted."

"Do not accuse me of that!"

"Enough, I know how you see me now."

"Chuckie, I hope you can realize how idiotic, and childish you are acting, now go to bed."

Chas closed the door. Chuckie threw a pillow at it, and sunk his face into his bed, staining the pillowcase with tears.

"Screw it all, just, screw it all!"

* * *

_**Well, let's hope things get better. Anyway, thanks for the positive reviews guys. And please make sure to review this story if you haven't yet.**_


	18. Chapter 18

Chuckie had this bad attitude for a week. Ally still hadn't been found, and there were reports that the bully with the pocket knife, now identified as Vasyl Kiyanitson, had broken out. This worsened things alot more for Chuckie. He haden't spoken with his friends at all, or forgiven his Father, and they still hadn't made up. The fights got really bad that they spread to between the parents, then the parents against kids, then Kimi and Chuckie started fighting, and soon, no one Chuckie knew was able to be in a room with him without fighting except Lil and Susie. Susie was a big motivator for Chuckie, and Chuckie was grateful, as Tommy was now unable to speak with him either. Chuckie didn't know why, but Lil had a very positive effect on him emotionally. He felt secure, free from judgment, cared for, a feeling that at the point he was at with his life, was a rare occurrence. Chuckie definitely grew closer to Lil, which she was perfectly okay with. Chuckie's attitude got him sent to Pangborn's office a few times, Chuckie even refused to go to an appointment with his psychologist, something his school didn't appreciate. Chuckie fell far more into his depression around this time. He couldn't look at a knife without thinking to slit his wrist, couldn't look at rope without thinking to hang himself, he was so depressed his grades took a hit. Chuckie hit a 70 out of 100 on a computer science quiz, his best subject, and he'd scored a B- in a quiz for it. Chuckie was out of it, closed up, shut down. His parents couldn't do anything, it was complete mayhem. Things seemed to take a continuous downward spiral until eventually, things got worse for the gang. Chuckie was in his room, talking with Susie while she was supposed to be on nightwatch.

"Have you ever felt like every person you ever knew in life is a complete fake?" Chuckie asked her

Susie walked up to Chuckie's floor level window and looked him in the eye. "Chuckie, never think that, I know it's been hard, but you'll be fine. Your Dad is just scared. He means well, he truly does."

Chuckie nodded, he was starting to be annoyed. He wished he could talk with his father.

"Chuckie, can you get me a cola or something, I'm starting to get tired."

"sure" Chuckie left to get the drink, but once Susie was left unattended, she was dragged into a passing car, by Ally and Vasyl. And a note was left on Chuckie's window sill.

Chuckie saw the note and gasped in horror. The note read:

_"If you wish to see her ever again, bring $5,000 in cash to the school dumpster, no cops, not even her parents can know." -Ally_

* * *

"Oh my God, poor Susie, How will we find her!?" Dr. Carmichael cried

Chuckie knew he couldn't tell the Carmichaels, or his parents. But he could pay the ransom. He had the money saved up. He needed it to buy himself his own car when the time would come, but at that point, Susie was worth more. Tommorrow, he would pay it.

* * *

It was lunch break, Chuckie made his way to a dumpster, where he'd been instructed to go. He saw Ally and Vasyl.

"I figured you'd come" Ally said

"Shut the hell up! Where is Susie. She was nothing more than an innocent bystander in all of this!" Chuckie replied

"She's right here you retard. Chill!" She pulled out a beatup Susie, black eyed and bruised. "Now where's the cash!"

Chuckie gave her the bad, and Vasyl gave Susie to Chuckie. "Thanks," Ally replied. We'll come back when this runs out."

The two drove off, and Chuckie untied Susie. The girl burst with tears, hugging Chuckie in a crushing embrace.

"My hero! Thank you so much! I can't believe you paid all that money for me!"

Ould"Don't sweat it, you're worth more than any amount of money."

"They said they'd come after Lil next, so tell her!"

"I'll make sure now you go home, you're parents are worried sick."

"Thank you Chuckie, and I'll pay you the money back, and I'll make sure to tell everyone you saved me."

"No, don't tell them I saved you, I'd rather they not know. Your suffering should not be my key to happiness."

"But your heroism should be, look, I'm telling then you're the hero."

Susie left and sprinted home. Chuckie went back to class, hoping he'd done good.

That night, all the families were meeting to see Susie, although Chuckie was not allowed. Chuckie's old babysiter, Taffy, who'd not looked after him in 6 years had come to look after him.

* * *

Everyone had gathered at the Carmichael's, and were talking about Susie, honoring her and talking about her bravery. Susie finally stood up, and said something that she'd wanted to say all night.

"Actually, there's someone very special who we should be thanking, Chuckie. He saved me, he paid a $5,000 ransom to save me. He got me away from them, he deserves to be celebrated."

Everyone gasped. Chas and Kira looked at each other. Their Chuckie? The same Chuckie who was cared to death of her? He was a hero."

* * *

Chuckie sat in his room quietly, wondering if his family would even believe Susie. Or even care. He then came across a shoebox he opened it, it was full of mementos of Nicole. He missed her dearly. She was the only one who knew how uneasy Chuckie was, and with her, he never was scared or had anxiety, she gave him the comfort and strength to do anything. He saw 2 knit hats. One was green, his favorite colour, the other was yellow, her favorite colour. He'd held onto them in her memory. He also came across a jewelry box. It was black, and inside were a few pairs of studded earrings, which she'd given to him before on past birthdays. He'd never worn them, mainly because his father would never aprove of him wearing earrings. He finally came across a note She'd wrote for him, it was scribbled a little bit because it was just moments before Chuckie had entered her hospital room to see her in her final moments. The note read:

_Chuckie, always remember who you are._

_Your darkest days may be behind you, or they may come later on._

_That doesn't matter though, just always remember to never give up, no matter how bad it gets._

_Never give up, always be ready to push yourself to the limit to reach happiness._

_Always remember, tough times don't last, but tough people do._

Chuckie came to a final decision, he didn't want to sink into this depression any further, so, he decided that even though he still believed his father had wronged him, he should apologize and just let it go. Even though it was obvious his family and friends wouldn't do the same.

* * *

The Finsters returned about 10 minutes upon hearing the news, in fact, everyone had come to honor Chuckie. Chas paid Taffy and she left, although they saw something at the dinner table they found quite unusual. A plate of freshly baked cookies, homemade by Chuckie, and in the middle of the plate, there was a note.

_"Look, I don't expect you all to forgive me, but you raised me to at least have the decency to apologize when I've done something wrong, even when I know I won't be forgiven."_

Everyone saw this note, and felt sympathy, they all wanted to congratulate him for what he'd done, he didn't deserve to look at himself that way any more.

Chas, Kira, and Kimi all went up to Chuckie's room. They had already forgiven him, they wanted to run up there to congratulate Chuckie for what he'd done.

Upon entering his room, they saw Chuckie in front of his mirror, and everyone ran to hug Chuckie.

"You're not one to apologize Chuckie, I was in the wrong, I shouldn't have done what I did." Chas said, squeezing his son tightly.

"It's okay Dad, I should've seen things from your perspective." Chuckie replied, warming up to his father's embrace. Everyone entered a group hug, although it didn't last too long. within 3 seconds, Kira had noticed that there was some blood splatter on Chuckie's dresser and mirror.

"Chuckie, oh my God did you cut yourself?" Kira asked, running to Chuckie.

"No.. not exactly." Chukie replied. He moved his hand from his head to reveal his ear, and the helix had a pin in it. He then showed his father the box of studded earrings.

"Chuckie, if these are why you wanna pierce your ear, I'm all for it, but, aren't you supposed to pierce the lobe for these kinds of earrings?"

"I tried, got nervous and missed, jeez..." Chuckie replied

Everyone laughed at this, relieved that Chuckie was fine.

"Come on Aiji, let's get that disinfected, then I'll pierce your ear correctly if you want." Kira said, grabbing some tissues still in frantic worry, and wrappng them around her son's ear. "Well, it seems we're not gonna be able to have a party tonight so maybe tomorrow we celebrate?"

Everyone agreed on that, and went home. Once the Finsters were alone, Kira took out some peroxide. When she returned to Chuckie, she saw him still clasping his ear in pain. She was proud of her son, and everything that had happened in that past week had been forgotten all of the sudden.

She wraped her arms around him in pure happiness "I'm so proud of you." She said, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"It was nothing."

"You'd been saving up that money for years to make sure you could afford a car after getting your license, I'm just so happy you did such a good thing, I hope the good sacrifices bring you good rewards." tears of joy began streaming down her face. Chuckie took his sleeve and wiped at them, this gave them a good laugh as it was often Kira's habit when Chuckie was in tears, the role reversal was funny. Chuckie then noticed what his mother had in her hand.

"That's not the stuff that stings, right?" he asked

Kira pulled the pin out, and placed in on a napkin.

"I'm afraid it is." She dabbed the part of his ear he'd put the pin in, carefully to not accidentally let peroxide actually into his ear.

"Owwww, come on!" Chuckie exclaimed.

"Oh quit it you big baby, now let's pierce your ear, I'll do it for you."

"Are you sure you've done this before?"

"Yes, I did it for Kimi."

Just then, Kimi came into the room with a camera. "I know he's gonna start crying in pain, so I brought in the camera to get his reaction!"

"Kimi, put that down." Kira ordered

"Nuh-uh"

"Ah come on, how bad can it hurt." Chuckie replied...

* * *

"Owwww it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts... dammit!" Chuckie exclaimed as his mother stuck the pin into his earlobe, holding him tight with her free hand.

"Just calm down, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's almost over." Kira said, trying to calm her son.

"This is hilarious." Kimi replied

Chas came into the room to see if everything was okay.

"Chuckie does it hurt that much?" he asked

"ahhhhh." Chuckie said in relief as Kira took the pin out. "Yeah, kinda."

"You still wanna do the other ear?" Kira asked

"Yeah, it hurts, but whatever, just can you make Kimi turn off the camera?"

Kimi laughed and decided to give him a break, and turned the camera off.

The second ear wasn't as bad, although it still hurt. By the time he was done, Chuckie tried the earrings on and was quite satisfied with the look. He couldn't to sport them the next day at school, to start a new chapter. A new day.

* * *

_**Yayy, something good finally happened! I hope you guys enjoyed that. Please leave a review. I wanna thank everyone who has so far left any sort of supportive, positive reviews, it means a lot.**_


	19. Chapter 19

**_Before I continue onto the next chapter, I just would like to thank celrock for giving me the idea to have Ally come after a second member of the gang. I give her full credit for giving me that idea. If you enjoy rugrats fanfictions, you should check out her stories. _**

* * *

Upon entering school, everyone seemed to know what Chuckie had done with saving Susie. Everyone applauded him for his sacrifice, and he was given many compliments for his new look, as he'd decided to start wearing the knit hat and earrings as everyday articles. Chuckie had reinvented himself, and any teacher or student could tell. The first things Chuckie did upon entering was not bask in his new popularity, but go meet with his friends, something he'd greatly missed.

"Well look at you, the earrings kind of suit you." Lil said upon seeing him

"Didn't Mr. Gupta say that you could retake the quiz?" Phil asked

"Yeah, I did, it was easy, meant to take 45 minutes but I ripped through it in 15." Chuckie replied

"Well we're happy to have you back bud, we really missed you." Tommy replied fist bumping his friend.

"Yeah, same, I hope I can stay for awhile. And my doctor said that I'm startin to show signs of recovery." Chuckie replied

"From your depression, sweet!" Phil replied.

"No, not that, even better." Chuckie said minorly squeeling.

"You mean..." Dil said

"Yup! After 2 years of fighting, my doctor says things are starting to improve"

"It's like it was almost yesterday. We got that scary news that changed our lives."

* * *

It was at the 9th grade semi-formal. Chuckie was looking at Samantha Shane, a crush that he'd developed after an Emica concert. She found him attractive, although had never addmitted this openly. Chuckie was sitting with Nicole, his only friend, being that the rest of the gang were all still in middle school.

"Just do it you little wimp." Nicole said

"I dunno, part of me is really uneasy about this." Chuckie replied

"Chuckie, I know you like her, and I know you can do this."

"This is just, so crazy, I really don't know what to do. I like her, but I'm just unsure if she would rather be with another guy."

Just then, Sean Butler, a friend of Angelica's walked over to them.

"Like Sean."

Nicole facepalmed herself.

"Yo, Chuckie bro. You know Samantha?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you should know that people have voted for you and her to be king and queen of the dance. Get ready for your spotlight dance." Sean said, he then walked away to go back talking with his friends, leaving Chuckie alone with Nicole again.

"Well, maybe you might be right." Chuckie admitted

All of the sudden, "DJ Harold" came up on the microphone.

"Alright ladies and germs, it's time to find out who you voted king and queen."

Everyone applauded loudly.

"I am pleased to announce your queen.. Samantha Shane!"

"Thank you, thank you" Samantha exclaimed, running to the stage.

"And your king... Chuckie Fiiiiiiiinsterrrrr!"

"Oh my God! I get to share a spotlight dance!" Chuckie exclaimed

"Congrats 'your majesty'" Nicole said hugging Chuckie "now get up there."

Chuckie ran on stage, and Sean placed a tiara on his head, much to Chuckie's confusion.

"Uhhhh, okay, thanks." Chuckie replied.

"And now, Chuckie, Sam, you have the honour to pull the net of balloons."

They pulled the rope, althoigh what happened next wasn't balloons dropping. A gigantic bucket of Vinegar was dumped onto Chuckie. Everyone began laughing at this. Nicole ran onstage and helped Chuckie up.

"Chuckie, oh you poor thing, are you okay."

"Hah, he's crying!" Samantha exclaimed as tears flowed through Chuckie's eyes.

"That's because there's a ton of vinegar in my eyes, it stings." Chuckie yelled

"Come on, there's a walk-in clinic near here, I'll get you there and call your parents." Nicole said assuringly. "Now let's go!"

Later on at the clinic, Chuckie had his eyes flushed, Dr. Carmichael took some x-rays because Chuckie had also fallen on his face and his nose was in pain. Chas arrived within seconds of getting his call. Chuckie could barely see, but wasn't feeling too bad, although Chas noticed something.

"Chuckie, are you wearing your mother's make-up?" he asked

"Just to hide this weird blemish on the side of my forehead." Chuckie replied

"Chuckie, that blemish is more of a problem than you think." Dr. Carmichael said.

"What do you mean Lucy?" Chas asked

"Well, it turns out that Chuckie has a tumor, and unfortunately, it's malignant. And being that both sides of your family have histories of cancer and Melinda having gotten cancer herself, I'm afraid this may very well give cancer to Chuckie." she replied

Chas and Chuckie came home, Chuckie plopped himself on the couch and cried his heart out at the news. He couldn't believe it, cancer. Being that his mother, and most of his father's relatives had suffered it, Chuckie knew that genetics were not on his side here.

Kira and Kimi came down, both knew something was wrong. Chas was in poor shape, but they couldn't bare to wait, they had to ask what was wrong.

"Well everyone, I'm sorry to say this but I'm, I'm afraid our Chuckie has a mailignant tumor, he has cancer, and with his genetcs, there's is not a high chance that he'll make it."

Kimi and Kira were stunned, and brought to tears by this news.

"Oh God no, not now, I'm not ready to lose him!" Kimi exclaimed

"Oh why, my only son has cancer! How can this be happening!" Kira exclaimed

The three huddled into a group hug, Chuckie didn't feel like joining, he just went into his parent's room alone, and took out a shoebox. It was a picture of Melinda Finster, his birth mother.

"Dad says your watching over me." Chuckie said to the picture. "I hope you know what your doing Mom, please help me, I need you."

* * *

"So you get another Chemo result today?" Tommy asked

"Yeah, let's hope this one does the job for good." Chuckie announced "I'll be getting it from that shrink the school keeps sending to talk to me every week."

Later at lunch Chuckie went to see the psychologist, he felt good about things, confident, and strong, but then, he walked into the room, and he saw his doctor. The man was red-eyed, something was wrong, and then, he showed Chuckie the results.

_"I'm sorry to inform you Mr. Finster, but it seems that things have worsened for you, you have only one chemo left scheduled for next month, if it doesn't fully treat you, I'm afraid there will be nothing more we can do. We estimate that the amount of time you have left to live is possibly only 3-6 months. We wish the best of luck to you on your next treatment, until then, Good luck._

_-Dr. Carmichael"_

"No, no!" Chuckie wimpered. Things were starting to get better, and now, he had only a few months to live, how could this be?

"Should I sign you out so you can go home?" the psychologist asked

"No, I choose to tough this out, I'm not gonna go home and cry like a little wuss."

"good for you Chuckie."

The two talked some more, discussing ways Chuckie could overcome what was happening, on emotional terms, but Chuckie didn't need it, all he needed was the motivation he had from Nicole.

Chuckie went to his friends and sat down with them afterwards. They were all worried about the results, and it was a shame that they were right. Chuckie plopped the papers down on the table, and they all read it, Kimi was all of the sudden in tears. Lil was too.

"I'm sorry guys, it seems like not too long from now, I'll be gone." Chuckie said, walking away, not wanting to watch his friends cry for him. He'd also written each friend a letter. Chuckie wasn't just going to roll over and die, he wasn't going to go home and cry, he was gonna make sure he made it if it was the last thing he did. He was going to get through these tough times for himself, and everyone he loved.

"I can't belive I'm losing my only brother, I can't take it, and what will my parents say. Dad's only flesh and blood, the son Mom had always wanted. He's gonna be ripped from our lives!" Kimi cried

Tommy wrapped his arms around Kimi comforting her. Tommy all of the sudden found himself crying, as well as Lil, and Phil, Angelica, Susie and Harold. They couldn't believe ha was going to be gone.

"My best friend in the whole world! You're not supposed to lose your best friend at 16, why must I lose him!" Tommy said in tears

"I still haven't even confessed how much I like him yet, now I'll never get a chance!" Lil said

Kimi's head shot up in anger. "Like I could allow any girl near my brother anyway Lil!"

"Kimi!" Lil said in shock

"I'm sorry Lil, but my brother doesn't need to be in anymore relationships for a while." Kimi replied "You date even flirt with him, and it'll be off with your head!"

"Oh screw you Kimi!" Lil yelled back

"Think about how Chuckie feels rather than your attraction to him for once."

"Fine, whatever, if you're being so unsupportive, I guess we can't be friends anymore!"

"Fine!"

* * *

**_So will Lil and Kimi ever make up? Will Lil ever confess to Chuckie? And what will Chuckie's ultimate fate be? Please review if you'd like, and thanks for reading._**


	20. Chapter 20

**_This chapter is mainly letters and flashbacks Chuckie has left to each member of the gang. _**

* * *

"That's it, let's just split and end this!" Tommy exclaimed

Each member of the group took their letter and left. On their ways home, they read those letters.

* * *

Susie opened up her letter,

_Susie,_

_I'd just like to say thank you. You're an amazing girl. You're smart, athletic, and can sing amazingly. I know that no matter what you do in life, you'll own it. Always remember to never give up, and do what brings you happiness in life. You've taught me that, I hope you can listen to your own lessons._

* * *

Angelica opened up her letter,

_Angelica,_

_Let's face it, you were a horrible person to us as babies, but you've matured, or at least, outgrown that. Thank you, because through the way you treated the gang, you taught us how to forgive and forget, and that we can't spend life having hatred for someone._

* * *

Dil opened his letter,

_Dil,_

_Though you were a pretty big pain in the butt when we first met, I could never think of what things could be like if you weren't my friend. There were a lot of crazy moments, and being that without Phil, me and you were the two weirdest people, I hope you can always remember me Dil, thanks buddy._

* * *

Phil opened his letter,

_Phil,_

_What can I say, you are an awesome friend. You've always been theresomeone I could never live without. I guess you could say we were the brothers to each other that we never had._

* * *

Lil opened her letter,

_Lil, _

_you're someone very special to me. Even when I had that week long fit, having you around made me always feel better. I hope you your life has all the most happiest fortunes for you, thank you for everything. I hope you can find the perfect person for you one day._

* * *

Kimi opened her letter,

_Kimi,_

_Well, I hope things aren't too bad for you after I'm gone. I know it's not guaranteed that I'm doomed, there is only about a 5-10% chance that my last chemo can treat me. I feel bad. I mean, your someone who is probably gonna be hurt the most by this. Everyone will look at you with the most sympathy, and God knows how long it will be before people will stop being so sensitive and feeling bad for you, and treating you differently. I hope you always remember at least the good memories we share. I hate the fact that there is such a little chance I'll survive, but you know what, we've got to have faith. I hope things between you and Tommy can grow, I know you two are meant for each other. Thank you Kimi, Tommy may be my best friend, but you are my one and only sister._

* * *

Tommy opened his letter,

_Tommy,_

_This is probably the hardest to write. I've told you before that I could never imagine what life would be like without you, but now, the odds are stacked against me, and it seems you're going to be living life without me around. I don't need to tell you to take good care of Kimi because I know you will. I know you will live a successful life, and I know you'll do things with no regret. Thank you Tommy, for everything you've given me. Please, stay strong, I know that you will, but I knnow the rest of the gang will eed your help to get over me if I die. Thank you T, my best friend, my brother._

* * *

All the kids were all of the sudden sunk into flashbacks. Susie remembered how she helped Chuckie learn to dance at Lou and Lulu's wedding, when she asked Chuckie to the Valentine's day dance. Angelica remembered when they were being held hostage in Paris, and her comforting Chuckie, and then as teens, how she taught him how to be cool. Dil remembered back when he was a baby, only a few months old, he'd knocked over his blocks by accident. Unable to leave his high chair, he started crying, and it was Chuckie who'd picked up the blocks and made him feel better. Phil remembered back to when he was holding a sleep over, and Chuckie helped him get back at the girls for pranking the guys. Kimi's flashback brought her to tears. She remembered hugging Chuckie, telling him how much she "just loved her new big brother", and how he stood up for her so many times, and even the whole family tree episode they'd had years ago. Tommy was reduced to meek sobs at his. He remembered helping Chuckie use the potty, and how they called each other brothers one time, they'd even built a month's long project in one night together and it got an A+. The two hadn't ever gone through life without the other, and they weren't ready now.

Each child got to their home, and they saw their parents, their parents saw their kids. Each family joined into a group hug. But as Kimi ran to her parents, who Chuckie had told the news to already, she could only think of one thing, was she ever gonna get over this, and more importantly, should she give up?


	21. Chapter 21

**_This is what happened before Kimi came back home._**

* * *

Chuckie arrived home earlier than his friends. He saw his parents, his father was more destroyed than he'd ever seen. His mother was still crying. This was the worst news any parent could ever receive. There was a 90% chance that they were going to outlive their child, how could this be happening.

"I take it, you've gotten the news?" Chuckie asked

Chas nodded.

"Mom, could I have some time alone with Dad, please?"

Kira didn't honestly want to leave. She wanted to be there for her son. She wanted to hug him and never let go. But at the same time. She knew Chuckie wanted some alone time wirh Chas, and so, she left the boys alone. Chuckie sat down next to Chas at the couch, and his father wrapped him into his embrace, as Chuckie bursted into tears.

"You're my hero you know that? Thank you so much for being the man I look up to. You are easily the grestest father ever. You lost your wife so early into your marriage, with your child so young. And yet, you were ready to raise me as a single parent. Sure it didn't actually happen, but you were ready to, you loved me so much you didn't even hire a nanny to help you. You are an epic person, you loved me so much you did anything and everything for me, even when you started dating again, you only wanted a woman who not only loved you and was ready to be a wife to you, but was ready to be a mother to me as well. You always thought of me every step of the way. Thank you Dad, I'm sorry that it might be over for me soon, but maybe we'll get lucky, keep that in mind."

"Oh Chuckie, they say that for every father, there's only one appropriate time he can cry in front of his son, and that is his birth, but I guess they don't remember the unlucky ones like me." Chas said

"I love you Dad, you're my best friend, I can't live without you. As a baby, I remember Angelica asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, you probably remember what I wanted to be as a kid."

"You'd say 'I want to be a Daddy, and the bestest one ever just like mine' it always brought tears of joy to my eyes. Being raised by me and Kira obviously made you bound to grow into a fatherly person. Remember the time Kimi opened up a babysitting service and left you to do all the work, even for her sister Sambrine?"

Chuckie remembered that and chuckled under his tears.

"We punished Kimi for taking abuse of you, but me and your mom weren't able to focus on being disappointed with her, we were too proud and happy at how good you were with the kids. Even with you passed out from exhaustion." Chas let out his signature nasally chuckle.

"It just shows how much you've influenced me in your life. I'm sorry I could never carry on your legacy and grow into the man I should've grown into."

"Oh Chuckie, having you in my life was more than enough of a blessing. You make me so proud."

"You never gave up on me, you stayed with me and made sure I had a father, and you know what, I can't give up on you, I'm making sure your son is here to stay."

"That's my boy!" Chas said

* * *

After the emotional moment, Chuckie went into his room, and lied down on his back, crying. He turned to the pictures on his dresser. He saw his birth mother, he saw Nicole, he saw his friends and father, he'd forgotten to talk to someone. That person immediately walked in. Kira walked over Chuckie, she smiled at him, which made Chuckie smile. She'd always had that positive effect on him, something that helped Chas to know she was the one. This smile though, Chuckie knew it was hard for her to sustain, he saw how red her eyes were. She removed his knit hat and started rubbing her hand through his red hair, brushing it out of his face.

"Please don't feel offended, I needed some time with Dad, I feel really bad and I know it was disrespectful and-" Chuckie said

"Doshta Chuckie-san, I understand." Kira chuckled "You've grown into such an amazing young boy."

"Thanks Mom."

"You know, I've told Kimi this story, but I just realized that I never got around to telling you. You see, when I was pregnant with Kimi, I really wanted a boy, I'm a motherly woman, and love Kimi just as much as you, but I always felt I could be a better Mom to a boy than a girl."

"Nonsense Mom, you're just as good a Mom to me as Kimi."

"I hope so Aiji. You know, I don't know how I'll ever get over it if I lose you."

"I know you'll find a way." Chuckie began tear up. "Thank you, you could never imagine how much you mean to me."

"Oh Chuckie"

"You know, the night you called Stu to tell him to come to Paris, it was the same night of Lou and Lulu's wedding. I remember that there was a mother-child dance. I was the only one without a mom. I remember how Angelica played this Godfather game with us and would grant our wishes, and when I wished for a 'new mommy' Angelica ended the game to dance with her mom. It stunk, and I remember Dad taking me home so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore. All I wanted was a mom. I remember you telling us about that reptar and princess story, and I tried to find the princess and ask her to see if she liked Dad, but that was also the night that Coco Labouche chick took the role on stage and tricked my Dad."

"Chuckie, I was the actress Coco dragged off stage."

"You were, well both my parents aren't the best actors so I guess you influenced my love for acting."

The two chuckled.

"I learned that I didn't want the princess to be my mom because even though she was nice, I wanted a new mom who was nice, loved me, tucked me in at night, told me stories and loved me. You gave me that, thank you."

"Oh Chuckie... come here you." Kira said, pulling Chuckie into a crushing embrace.

"You're an awesome Mom, you've given me everything and more. You put me through martial arts, helped me overcome a number of fears I had, taught me how to use chopsticks, and you'd always be there when I was hurt or sick. Sure you babied me and really spoiled me, but I loved how much you cared at least. I wish should've been a better son to you."

Kira put a hand on his face and wiped at some of his tears. "There has been no better honour given to me, than calling you my son, Chuckie." She then looked at his ear. "I did a good job at that huh? Look, I have something for you."

She took out an earring. It had a japanese letter dangling on it, not too big, but the perfect size.

"I want you to have this, I got it for myself when I was a child growing up in Japan. I was quite tomboyish to some extent, and the earrings really helped me explore that part of me. I forgot in Japan when I moved to France though. Your parents returned it to me when they visited back when you were two. I cherish it very much, and I'd love to see you where it."

"Mom, it's beautiful, thank you!"

"I also have something else to give you." She pulled out some men's yoga pants and and a tank top.

"Alright, I'll do some yoga and meditation with you." Chuckie agreed

"You won't be sorry Aiji, I promise you." Kira said excitingly, she kissed her son's forehead and then laid her's on his "I love you my son, you make me so proud. There is no better honour given to me, than calling you my son Chuckie."

They heard Kimi walk into the house, she was crying loudly. Kira looked at Chuckie.

"Go" he said "I don't really need to be comforted, she does."

Kira nodded, and ran downstairs.

"Well Mr. Cancer" Chuckie thought "You've emotionallt destroyed my whole family. Let this be known, you haven't won the whole war. I will defeat you. I don't know how, but I'm toughing this out. For My Dad, both my Moms, my Sister, the whole gang, and Nicole. I will tough this out through thick and thin, I know I can. Dad didn't give up when he thought he'd be a single father forever, and I won't give up with this. I'm making him proud!"

* * *

**_Will Chuckie make it? If he doesn't, will he at least die with dignity? Will Kimi and Lil make up? Will Lil confess her love? What does the future hold. STAY TUNED. Please feel free to leave a review._**


	22. Chapter 22

A lttle while after Kimi had managed to calm down, Kira took Chuckie out into the backyard and bagan. their yoga.

"Now Chuckie, do you know what a lotus position is?" Kira asked

"Yeah, you position your feet like this." Chuckie replied, and he put himself into the position as if he'd done it before with ease.

"Impressive, it's usually difficult to pull that off the first time."

The two continued on some more exercises, none of which Chuckie couldn't do. He felt weird doing yoga with his mother, but he just ignored the feeling and continued on it. They then ended an hour later with meditation. They returned to their lotus positions. In this calm-minded state, Chuckie found himself dreaming, his mind was empty, but he had these memories. He remembered things like the babies teaming up in paris, playing with his father, dancing with Kira at his parents' wedding, even some went as far back as when his mother was alive. He then had these visions into the future, or what it seemed like. He saw a young boy, he bared some resemblance to Chuckie, with the exception of his rectangular head, and his uncontrollable hair being brown instead of red. He saw an adult Chuckie giving his mother's earring to the young boy.

* * *

"Here little buddy, happy birthday"

"Dad, it's beautiful, thank you. But it's your most favourite possession."

"Your Grandma Kira got it for herself at 16, she gave it to me when I was 16, and being that it's your 16th birthday, I feel you're ready to inherit it."

"Oh Dad thank you."

"It's a treasure to me and your grandmother, and I hope you can keep it as a Finster family heirloom. Pass it down to your oldest son on his 16th birthday, and tell him to do the same." The adult Chuckie said, hugging his son.

"I promise you I will. Thank you, you're the most awesome Dad a guy could ever want."

The vision ended and Chuckie then found himself in an endless white space. He saw clouds form in the sky, and then a light come from the sky. 2 spirits wearing white-hooded robes descended down to Chuckie. Just then, the light spoke to him.

"Hello Charles."

"Who are you?" Chuckie asked. To his own surprise, he wasn't afraid of this being.

"I am someone very important. I've been watching down on you your whole life, and with along side these two."

"Oh my God! You're... well... GOD!"

"Yes I am. Thank you Charles. You've been a very good person. I want you to continue this good path. I'm so happy you haven't given up. I want you to continue to live a good life, and righteous one at that. There are two people who wish to speak to you."

Just then, the shorter of the two spirits lifted her hood. It was Nicole. Chuckie bursted into tears of happiness, hugging her tightly.

"I've missed you so much." He wimpered

"I know Chuckie. I'm so happy you were able to get over me. Please though, stop blaming yourself. You're a great guy, and you deserve a happy life, I know you can make things right Chuckie."

"Thank you." Chuckie said he then returned the kiss that Nicole had given him over a year ago. "I felt it was my turn to return the favor."

"Thank you" Nicole chuckled "I'd love to stay and chat, but, I wouldn't want to keep a mother from her son any longer." She kissed Chuckie on the cheek, and then ascrnded back into the clouds.

"Mother?" Chuckie thought

He turned around and saw the second spirit. This one was quite tall, maybe only an inch or two shorter than the 6'3 Chuckie, (who doctors had told still wasn't finished growing.) The second spirit lifted her hood, and Chuckie saw that it revealed a very beautiful woman. She had a few features in common with Chuckie. She was quite tall, taller than Chas, she had freckles, just like Chuckie, and her hair was a bright orange-ish red, she was Melinda Finster, Chas' late first wife, and Chuckie's late birth mother.

"I can see why I was taller than Mom and Dad by the time I was 12." Chuckie said awkwardly, but excitedly

"What can I say, I liked shorter men, it was weird thing, if I'd been around long enough, you could've seen that weirdness comes from my genes." Melinda replied

"Dad says that a lot of my personality came from you."

"You are a lot like me." Melinda hugged Chuckie, kissing his forehead. "I'm so proud of you, I wish I could've seen you grow up from earth. I'm really happy at what you've done. You helped Chas to get over my death and find someone new, and I'm so grateful that she was able to be the mother you needed. I'm so happy and love you so much."

"Thank you, I can't believe I'm finally meeting you, this is awesome."

"Chuckie, please don't give up, I know you can do it, I know that if you have faith, you'll make it." Melinda said, as she let go of Chuckie, and began ascending.

"Aw c'mon, do you have to go so soon!" Chuckie yelled

"Don't worry, you now know how you can communicate with me." Melinda said

* * *

Chuckie opened his eyes and was back in the yard, his mother opened her eyes too, and looked at Chuckie, the two smiled.

"So how was that?" Kira asked

"Absolutely awesome!" Chuckie exclaimed "It felt so good, like I'd had the feeling before, but it'd been so long since I'd last felt it."

"Seems like I've got something to show you." Kira replied, pulling Chuckie up. She brought him into the living room, and took out a photo album, flipping to a page with Chuckie and Kira meditating and doing yoga, with Chuckie being only 6!

"I'd taught you when you were 3, you continued until about the age of 7-8 when you tried to put your foot behind your head and it got stuck there." Kira said

"I remember that, Tommy wanted to make a video like one of those old style work out types, and when I tried to put my foot behind my head it got stuck."

"You were crying so loudly I heard you from inside the house."

"And you had to help me out of the position on camera."

Kimi heard all of this, and being that she still was pretty upset, she felt seeing something like that would obviously make her feel better.

"You know, Stu sent us a copy of Tommy's video" Kira said, pulling it out, which was immediately swiped from Kimi.

"Then let's watch it!" Kimi said, popping the disc in and pressing play.

* * *

The video started with Tommy placing the camera at a good angle, followed by him standing next to Chuckie, with Phil on the other side.

"Aaaaaaand Action!" Tommy said

"Welcome ladies, to Chuck Finster's yoga-tastic experience!" Chuckie said

"Now, let's start with some stretches, a one and two, a one and two"

* * *

Kimi guffawed at this. It was so bad, it was hysterical.

* * *

"A one and-"

All of the sudden, there was a tearing sound, and Phil grabbed the back of his pants

"oh no, Lillian, switch with me!" Phil whispered, and the twins switched.

The twins switched, and the three on camera went straight to the exercises.

Ten minutes into the video, Chuckie finished with putting his foot behind his head.

"Incredible!" Kimi said behind the camera

"Uh guys, I'n stuck!" Chuckie said, trying to release himself.

Tommy ran off to get Kira, and this was followed by some footage of Kimi trying to "rescue" Chuckie, which only made it worse, and then Kira came, at which moment, Tommy took the camera and said

"Make sure to get the other videos in Yoga Master Chuck's collection!" Then Tommy turned the camcorder of, the screen ending on Kira hugging a crying Chuckie after helping him.

* * *

"I tried to warn you." Kira said, as the whole family was laughing at the video.

"Well, I got to head to the Java lava, later!" Kimi said

Kimi left, leaving the mother and son alone.

"Hey, is it okay if I continue to do yoga and meditation with you?" Chuckie asked

"I'd be more than happy to let you!" Kira said, ruffling her son's hair.

* * *

_**Jeez, I really changed the subject fast, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, if not, please inform me so I can improve. Also, if you have any questions on anything here, feel free to PM me. Please review!**_


	23. Chapter 23

Chuckie continued to do yoga and meditation. He felt that it strengthened him, and the occasional encounters with his mother were very enjoyable for him as well. Chuckie's self esteem was growing, still slowly, but it was growing. It was the beginning of a new semester. And hopefully, it wouldn't be his last. He was going to be alone today since all 10th graders and 12th graders were away on field trips, so Chuckie was going to be quite lonely for the day. After his books were prepared for his first period, he sighed, took out his phone, and played himself some music. His appearance didn't show it, but Chuckie loved rap music, specifically Eminem. He was lost in his personal favourite by the artist, "Not Afraid". He pictured himself in the position of Marshall. No friends, a lot of mistakes having been made in his past that affect him now, and many problems that can't be controlled. Regardless, the rapper gave him strength, perseverance, and courage. Chuckie was about to pre-order the latest album, when all of the sudden, he heard a locker slam violently and loudly. It startled Chuckie. He turned to see a girl, she seemed frustrated, and being that Chuckie hadn't seen her before, he assumed she was new, being that they were only a week into second semester. Chuckie decided to talk to her, so he walked over and sat down next to her.

"Hi there, you new?" Chuckie asked

"Sort of, I transferred a year ago, but I don't put myself out there, so no one really knows me except for jerks like Savannah Shane. My name is Trisha Ono." The girl said. She reminded Chuckie of Nicole. Not physically, as Trisha had an asian appearance, contrast to Nicole's european appearance. But her simple action of giving Chuckie the time of day to get to know him. Only one other person outside the gang had ever dome that without one of the other members of the rugrats around, and that was Nicole. Trisha was someone Chuckie instantly hoped he could be friends with.

"Yeah, Savannah can be pretty annoying." Chuckie said

"No, I mean, she's racist, she makes these annoying comments about Asians and Chinese people. I'm half Korean half Japanese, there is a huge difference. But she always calls me 'Chinese Ching Chong Chick'. Look, I don't mean to be rude because you're caucasian but you'd probably not understand."

"I do know what it's like to be discriminated though. You know how there is someone in our grade with Asperger's?"

Trisha nodded

"You're looking at him."

"Really? You're 'retard Finster'? You don't seem different at all."

"That's what I wish others knew. I'm just like a normal 16-year-old, I just have autism. I personally didn't realize it either, even after learning about my autism a year ago. I was so embarressed I hid it from everyone I knew outside of school, except for my Mom at least. But I do understand how discrimination feels. And I understand racism too. That was how I was bullied for years."

"But you're caucasian."

"Well, I'm half middle eastern. My mother's parents were apparently Lebenese immigrants. Also, my Adoptive mother is Japanese, so you can probably guess what kindergartener Savannah decided to pick on me for when she saw that my mom's skin pigmentation was different from mine."

"You're adopted?"

"Through my mother, yes. After my father remarried when I was 2, she adopted me. And my Dad adopted her daughter. I knew she wasn't my Mom biologically, but I couldn't then, or now, ever say she isn't my real mother."

"What happened to your biological Mom?"

"Died of some sort respiritory disease. My parents never divorced, my Dad was just.. widowed."

"Awww, I'm so sorry for asking." She said sympathetically

"I was only a few months old, it didn't hurt me really. Look, what I'm saying is, there is a woman who loves me as her own even when I'm not, and that wasn't easy as first. And for all her hard work, people discriminated, finding it odd for her to adopt a white son. And it hurts when you're only 3 and not able to understand. I remember in preschool, they called me a mutant and orphaned and stuff like that. Look, I'm not saying this to get sympathy from you. I just want you to know, I understand what you're dealing with. My sister, Kimi, does too, and my friends, Tommy and Susie. Tommy and Kimi are a year younger than us, Susie's a year older. If you need to talk ever, we're around."

"That's so sweet. I've had absolutely no friends since coming to this school, I've heard about how you're really socially awkward, and I know about how people pretend to be your friend and then make a fool out of you. I want you to know that the respect I'm showing you right now is legitimate."

"Thank you. You know, upon meeting me, most people assume I'm just some whiny dorky, weirdo with retardation. Only one person has ever actually taken time to get to know me, she's gone now, but I'm kind of glad I met you."

"Me too Chuckie. Most people play on stereotypes when they see me, like that I only spend time with other asians, or that I only care about school, and nothing else."

"Well I don't think that. My mom was born and raised in Japan and she hated math, and school in general, she's actually the reason for my love of arts and sports. I wasn't aware of Asian stereotypes until I was 13, so you won't hear any stereotype jokes out of me."

"Same here Chuckie, and FYI: you shouldn't worry about the stereotypes of your autism when you're hanging with me. You're just like someone without it to me, heck you're better than them, you're sweet, and a great listener, from what I've seen, little klutzy maybe, but not retarded, dorky, or boring."

"Thanks Trisha."

The two hugged. At this, the bell rang, meaning first class was about to start.

"What class you got?" Chuckie asked

"Psychology with Ms. Bridely" Trisha said

"Hey, we got homeroom together." Chuckie said, cheering internally.

_**I hope you all enjoyed that. I plan to keep Trisha as a main character in the story, but no promises. If you like her, let me know in the comments. Also, All Grown Up! fans might remember, Trisha is describing Chuckie with the same adjectives Nicole did in the Chongo episode. As always, please review!**_


	24. Chapter 24

Chuckie and Trisha were becoming better friends by the second. They continued to hang out with each other. Trisha looked past Chuckie weirdness, autism and talkative nature, and liked him for who he was. Chuckie invited Trisha to study at his house. He decided to get her a pineapple-banana-orange-coconut smoothie. It was raining heavilly so it had to be done quickly, then they'd make a run for it to his house.

"Can you belive Bridely is giving us a test in the first week of the semester?" Chuckie asked upon entering the Java Lava.

"I know, I'm nervous like crazy, what do you think?" Trisha replied

"Well the class hasn't seemed too difficult for me at all. But still, a test in week 1."

Chas came out of the back room crying. He had a big bag of fresh pineapples, the proplem, instead of onions, pineapples made him cry. He then noticed Chuckie talking to Trisha.

"Hey Chuckie. How was school." Chas asked in tears

"Pretty great if you ask me. This is my new friend Trisha."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Finster." Trisha asked in confusion.

"The pleasure's all mine." Chas cried, reaching out his hand. "I'm sorry, you know how onions make people cry, somehow pineapples do that."

"Oh. Well you seem really nice." Trisha said. She decided to just conclude that allergies were the cause of it.

After Chas and Trisha met, Chuckie made Trisha her smoothie, Chas walked over Chuckie.

"She's quite the looker, son."

"Dad" Chuckie whispered "What the heck?"

"I'm just saying Chuckie, you got yourself a pretty lady right here."

"I'm out Dad, I don't need this."

Chuckie handed the drink to Trisha, then they left for the Finster home.

"Come on, we've got to get home before my Mom does or she'll freak out thinking I might be sick." Chuckie said

"What's so bad about that?" Trisha replied

"She just spoils me a lot when I'm sick, she really babys in those situations." Chuckie knew that Kira would do that, and that wasn't something he needed friends to see.

Upon entering his home, Chuckie had started sneezing and coughing, so he knew Kira would be suspicious, if she saw him. Sure enough, she was waiting for him with a towel behind the door when he arrived.

"Hi Chuckie, who's this?" Kira asked. "And why weren't you at school when I came to pick you up?" Kira asked

"Oh... Mom... Hey... Uh... This is Trisha, a girl I met... In school." Chuckie nervously replied

"Chuckie, it's raining like crazy, besides, you know I told you to wait until I get to your school, you don't just walk home." Kira said. She then started wiping her son's hair, despite his friend being around.

"Mom you're embarressing me." Chuckie whispered

"Well consider this your punishment. Now are you feeling okay, you were running in the rain, you had me worried you might have a cold."

"Mom, I'm fine. Look, me and Trisha here have a Psychology test tomorrow, so we need to study."

"Alright Aiji but no goofing around." Kira ordered

"I promise." Chuckie said, he then took the towel off from his head, and took it to his room.

The two entered Chuckie's room, and once the door closed. Trisha released a tiny laughing fit.

"Your mom seems nice. You were right about the babying thing."

"I know. I want to hate it, but despite the annoyance, I don't really want her to stop, because as I told you, she's the only mom I have. I wouldn't want her to really be at all different." Chuckie said. He then bursted into sneezes and coughs.

"Jeez Chuckie. I think you might have a cold." Trisha said

"No worries." Chuckie said. "He then pulled out a mask and gloves. "I get sick quite easily in fall, so I have some stuff left over."

"Well okay then." Trisha said. She sat down at his bed, but sat on a pamphlet. "What's this? It's a bunch of stuff about cancer. Chuckie, what's wrong?"

Chuckie wasn't going to lie to Trisha. He couldn't lie to a friend.

"I think it would be easier to explain if you read this." Chuckie then gave Trisha the note Dr. Carmichael had given him.

"Sorry you had to know so soon."

"So the rumours at school are true?"

"Yup."

Trisha was all of the sudden in tears.

"This sucks so much" she cried "I just made a friend and he might be gone soon."

She sniffled quite a lot

"How did your friends and family react?"

"My friends were really upset. They're all still having trouble getting over it. My parents were upset, but after a heart-to-heart talk with each of them, my parents got some hope."

"That's nice. I hope that 10% chance works out. People like you don't deserve to die young."

"Thank you"

They hugged it out, but she was still quite upset. Eventually, she calmed down. The two studied for 2 hours. Once they had everything they needed to know. Trisha packed her things.

"Well, thanks for having me."

"Thanks for coming." Chuckie replied

Trisha looked at Chuckie. She was happy to see his face. He was now someone special to her. He was officially her best friend.

She turned to leave, but ran back to hug him. "Thanks for everything. Promise this whole friendship we have, it's real?"

"Only if you promise." Chuckie replied. Trisha left. Once she was gone, Chuckie closed his eyes, turned his back against the door and sighed. He knew he wasn't attracted to her. But her friendship made him happy. Chuckie let out another sigh. This one was of pain. Chuckie had been faking being okay, but he had a bad cold. All of the sudden, Kira walked in. Knowing how Chuckie hated being sick, she took out a thermometer and shoved it into her son's mouth.

"Oh Aiji, your temperature isn't too good. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Chuckie lied. He then entetered another sneezing and coughing fit.

Kira took a blanket, and wrapped Chuckie in it. "You go to bed, I'll come upstairs and get you some Miso soup and medicine.

Up in his room, Chuckie stayed in his bed, doing his homework from his other classes. His mother eventually arrived, and she, as Chuckie predicted, spoiled him. She had a big tray and on it was his bowl of soup, some juice, and medicine. She looked at Chuckie, then left the room, but swiftly came back with a second blanket.

"Mom, you work way too hard. Besides, do I look like I need all of this?"

"Maybe if you hadn't tried to sneak a friend inside the house and just let me pick you up from school, this wouldn't have happened. Now eat the soup." Kira said, she then took a spoonful and put it into her son's mouth

"Ow! I can feed myself." Chuckie took the spoon "Anyway she knows now about the whole Ally thing, and my cancer, and it sucks. I'm the first friend she's ever had at my school since transferring. she either hides herself, or gets picked on with stereotypes. Especially jocks and cheerleaders."

"Oh dear. So how did you meet her?"

"Well, she had been getting racially discriminated. I understood what was happening, and since I was someone who knew the feeling of discrimination, I was sble to make her feel comfortable to have me as a friend."

"Chuckie. that is so sweet of you... Wait, you get discriminated? For how long has this been happening?"

Chuckie realized then that he'd never told his mother about times he'd been bullied.

"Mom, I get called retarded and other autistic stereotypical stuff at school because teachers tell students I have Asperger Syndrome. While I'm at it, I might as well tell you something I've been hiding behind your back for a while. You remember how my birth mom was lebenese? Well for multicultural day at school when I was seven, I brought some Arab food. Well, wearing a keffiyeh scarf in public kind of got some terrorist calls thrown my way."

"Oh dear.. Chuckie. Is there anything else?" Kira asked

"Look, this is too hard to talk with you about."

"Chuckie, you have to tell me."

"Mom"

"Chuckie!"

"I can't"

"Now!" Kira said, looking with an angry glare.

"Mom, when I was in preschool. A kindergarten student in my school made fun of me because your skin pingmentation was different from mine. It kind of still exists today, and more people do it. I never told you because I didn't feel like it was a brave thing to do."

"Chuckie... Never think that, that is the most idiotic thing a person can think."

Chuckie nodded. Kira apologized and kissed her son in apology.

"Look, if you're so scared to tell someone, just ignore them, avoid them at all costs. And if they confront you, fight back with words."

"Okay, well, I'll try. And sorry I hid this, I just didn't want to worry you, or make you feel like I didn't think of you as-"

"A mom?"

"yeah."

"Well remember, part of me being your mother is that you can tell me anything." Kira kissed her son, then gave him his medicine. "So, Trisha is your new friend?"

"Yeah,"

"Your father called me and talked about her. She is quite the looker Chuckie."

"Mom... Ewwww... I may be your son, but you can't talk about this in front of me."

"Why, Kimi does?"

"Because your both girls. Anf Kimi talks about guys."

"Your father found that you were both looking at each other in a certain special way."

"He was holding pineapples, his eyes were teary."

"You seemed quite stunned after she hugged you."

"Mom! I'm not into her!"

Just then, Kimi came home and heard this. To her, Chuckie was not ready to date. She needed to find out what was going on, and at that, walked in to Chuckie's room.

"Chuckie!" Kimi exclaimed as she bursted through the door. "Check out the sweater I got you. It's all white with cartoon polar bear facial features to celebrate the zoo's new polar bear exhibit, and... What happened?"

"I got a cold." Chuckie replied

"Kimi, did I forget anything?" Kira asked

Kimi looked and saw how obvious it was that Kira had been overly pampering him. There was a tray on his bed. A bowl of soup, a few drinks, a bottle of medicine, and had been wrapped in at least 3 or 4 blankets. "Yeah, a diaper, bottle and bib?" Kimi said sarcastically.

Kira ignored her daughter's comment. Kimi asked to speak with Chuckie in private, and Kira agreed to give that.

"Remember Chuckie, if they try to hurt you, just walk away. Don't give them a reaction." Kira whispered to him once more

Once Kira left, Kimi closed the door. No girl was going to break her brother's heart ever again. If Chuckie dated, Kimi needed to know.

**_This chapter was more of a filler chapter just so I could set up something for Trisha to find out about Chuckie's cancer. If it's too boring or more than it should've been, sorry. Anyway, as always, please review if you can!_**


	25. Chapter 25

_**Sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Anywho.**_

* * *

"So, you're getting back into the dating scene, huh?" Kimi asked

"What! No! Mom was just teasing me. Kimi, I'm not into any girl right now." Chuckie sniffly replied

"Right"

"Kimi, I'm not really worried about getting girls right now. I have more important things on my mind. I've got Ally to deal with for example, I've got to figure out how I'm gonna find her before she comes back and kidnaps someone else, and possibly for more money."

"Chuckie... Fine, whatever, have it your way. So who's the girl? Is she cute?"

"Okay, 3 things. A- I'm not into her! 2- Yeah, she's somewhat attractive. But I've friendzoned her, and vice versa. Thirdly- Her name is Trisha Ono."

"Oh, so she's Asian, is that why you're 'not into her'" Kimi teased

"Oh shut up! You know I hate racism!" he exclaimed

"Calm down Chuckie, you sensitive Leb!" Kimi sat next to her brother, playfully punching him

"Don't get too close, I have a cold. I should be better by tomorrow morning."

"That's good."

Chuckie let out a sigh, and looked at his sister.

"What? Why are you looking at me?" She asked

"Isn't this weird, I used to be so protective of you, now look at us, talk about a role-reversal. Now you're the one concerning over me. I'm just glad you won't take things too far like I did, you're way too smart to do that."

Kimi took this into question. Did Chuckie have a point? Or was he in the wrong? It couldn't be too bad to look out for him, could it?

* * *

The next morning, Chuckie woke up full of energy, which was rare for any person if they had to wake up at the crack of dawn to study. By 7:00 he was finished the main review package and at that, went downstairs to make himself some breakfast. When he realized how much of a good mood he was in, and how quickly he kicked his cold, he decided to make some red tea for his mother to make it up to her. He was just about finished preparing it when Kira and Chas came downstairs.

"Morning Mom & Dad" Chuckie greeted

"You seem to be feeling much better." Chas replied, ruffling his son's hair

"What can I say, Mom's soup can work miracles."

Kira, still unsure, took out the thermometer again. She took Chuckie's temperature, and he seemed just fine. "I guess it does. So have you finished your studying?"

"Yup."

"And taken your medicine, not to mentiom found out about your next chemotherapy treatment?"

"Check, and Check." Chuckie replied, he then pointed to the tea he made. "And, I had some time to make something special for you two." He then handed them the tea.

"Awww, sweetheart, thank you." Kira said, pinching his cheek. Chas thanked him as well, but not as excessively

The couple took a look at their son. A young man, who the only thing seemingly standing in his way of his bright future, was one of the most deadly diseases ever. It was also a disease though, that only he could stop. They decided that maybe, he didn't need their protection anymore.

"Chuckie, how about, if you want, you can take yourself to school." Kira said

"Really? You mean it? Woooo hooooo!" Chuckie exclaimed, jumping up from his seat like a hyper child.

"One more thing, we're gonna do some yoga and meditation after school before tonight's search, okay?" Kira said.

"And after that, head to the Java Lava for work. I want you to stay there as a night watch, but wear some sort of disguise, like the blonde wig you used for that film. In case Ally comes in, you never know, she could send a robber for the money." Chas instructed, in a dramatically frightened tone

"I promise I'll come home for the yoga Mom, and I'll make sure I'm at work in time, okay Dad." Chuckie replied. He put on his backpack, hugged and kissed his parents, bolted out the front door, and hopped onto his motorcycle.

Kimi saw the last part, and she came in with her hair still wet from washing it.

"He convinced you with tea?" She asked, clearly misunderstanding her parent's points of view.

"No Kimi, it's, just a parent thing." Kira replied

Kimi then walked over to her mother, and with a face of disapproval, shook the water out of her hair at her mother, as if she was a dog Kira had just bathed.

* * *

Chuckie arrived to school quite early. Luckily, Trisha was there, so they weren't alone, and were able to quiz each other. Before they knew it, first period had rolled around, and they did their test, with no trouble whatsoever.

"Told you it wasn't anything too hard." Trisha said

"Still, a test in week 1 is just dumb, let us get used to the subject first at least." Chuckie whined

"So, basketball season starting up soon, you thinking about trying out?"

"I want to. I'm really tall and basketball is my absolute most favourite sport. My mother played for the American women's team apparently and spent the last few years of her life playing in the WNBA, and my Dad, well, he was a bit of a white Muggsy Bogues actually, even coached my team growing up for a year or two, never went pro though, due to his asthma, he wanted to instead just become a bureaucrat, he does have a coaching job for UCLA though, it's hilarious, seeing all those 6-footers and even one 7-foot guy, all getting yelled at by my 5"6 Dad. Basketball, well, it's always had an emotional meaning for me and my parents. I mean look at me, I'm a giant compared to the other juniors and even seniors at school."

"So then why do they pick on you. Don't they feel threatened."

"Not really, when you're that high, people try to make you feel like crud. As a kid they call you Jack's beanstalk and in my case, quad-clops to combine 4-eyes with giant, and then as I got older, they bring in my autism, like thinking God took my intelligence and replaced it with my height, or asking me if my expected final height is '9"11' because I'm half arabic."

"But I thought your mother was Lebanese? The 9/11 terrorists were mostly Saudis, Emiratis and Egyptians."

"Yeah, but there was one Leb, but one guy can't represent a whole culture. Plus, when you have a family tree project, and your class finds out your middle name is Kassem, your mom's maiden name is Abdulwahid, and even your Uncle, who was named after his grandfather, is named Osama, well, just don't expect any mercy. But I'm used to it, I see my sister get made fun of for being asian, Susie for being black, and Tommy for being Jewish, heck, even other jews don't like him because his Dad and his friends are all Christian. When you see it, you get used to it. But the bullying makes me a stronger person, and a better basketball player. When the season comes, I take all my anger out on the court. The racism, the retardation remarks, everyone's arrogance, I let my rage from it build up, I can take it and turn it into energy, and I just give a good performance. That's what I feel everyone who gets discriminated needs, something they can put all that rage into, so they can make themself a better person through it."

"That's really cool Chuckie, and I really like what you're getting at. But, why don't you ever make the team?"

"I used to not know, I've always been the school's top scorer, and in the top 3 for assists, not trying to brag though. I recently found out why I'm always denied though. I overheard in the staff room once, Coach Sharmootson said that he couldn't let an autist join the team. He said something about me possibly being unable to listen or co-operate because I might be too stubborn from my autism. It's just dumb."

"Wow, idiot! It's like when teachers don't accept me for the radio and P.A. team, or the girl's basketball team. They assume I won't be able to commit myself to extra-curricular activities because of school work. I hate it, I'd much rather play football or basketball than do math, and the sports don't get in my way anyway."

"You like basketball too?"

"Yeah, my favorite sport. Yao Ming and Magic Johnson are my favorite players, how about you?"

"Michael Jordan, although I have a lot of admiration for Bill Russell. I dunno, I love filmmaking as much as I love Basketball, and being that M.J. combined the two, and is still known as one of the best in the actual game, you can't help but admire that."

"Plus, he got screwed over out of his school's basketball team twice as well."

"I guess he can relate."

The two chuckled at the witty statement

"So, you wanna meet up after school?" Trisha asked

"Maybe, we can pick up the tests, and then I can give you a ride home. My mom finally let me take myself to school today so I came here on my motorcycle." Chuckie replied

"Sweet. But umm, well."

"What is it?"

"Look, I don't want to sound pushy, but, I think you should try out for the basketball team. I know there is a very small chance that you can make it because it's the last tryout, but I know you have potential. I know you can do it. You've said you wish you could just somehow let it shine. Well, this is your chance. Your chance to prove people that you are awesome, and that some psychologist's diagnosis has got nothing on you."

Chuckie took in what Trisha had said. He had promised his mom he'd come home right away. But she was an understanding woman, and it would only be an hour to an hour and a half. "Okay, I'll do it!"

"Awesome!"

"Well, I'll see you later. Meet me at the gymnasium after school."

"Got it!"

"I hope it works. The NBA is calling my name. Somewhere in this town, Kobe cries, wondering how he'll ever get that 6th ring, Steve cries, fearing he'll end up like Barkley, a king without a ring, they need someone's help, and I'll be the man that leads them to it!" Chuckie said

"Jeez, I like the extra dramatic effect you added to that, but the NBA?."

"Yeah, I'll be the first ever autist to be accepted into the NBA, and then, the Hall of Fame!"

"Well, I love the energy! Hope you do it! And good luck at tryouts! Remember, this is their last meet up today, if you wanna make it, this is the final chance."

After Trisha left, Chuckie dialed his mother's phone number, as he did, he thought only one thing to himself: "I better not regret this."

* * *

_**Will Chuckie make the basketball team? Will everything be okay with his family? How are things doing with Lil and Kimi? Stay tune! Please Review!**_


	26. Chapter 26

"Hello, Finster residence?" Chas answered on the phone

"Dad? Where's Mom? Doesn't she usually do the afternoon shift?" Chuckie asked

"Oh hey Chuck. Yeah, but your Mom fell down the stairs, she's fine, but it was a nasty fall, so she needs to rest up for the day. She can't really do much, so I guess it was a good decision on her part to let you go to school on your own." Chas stated

"Oh my God! Well, at least she's okay."

"She won't be doing any yoga with you after school though, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, that's okay. Actually, that's why I called, I can't come home straight after school I'm signing up for the basketball team."

"Well good luck, but make sure you come home by at least 6:00, understood? I need to be at the store to just lock up all the doors from the inside."

"Alright Dad, thanks."

* * *

"Come on Chuckie, what are you waiting for?" Trisha asked, pounding on the boy's locker room door

"I'm coming, I just need to lace-up my sneakers." Chuckie called back

"I'm really proud of you, I'm really happy you're doing this."

"Thanks, the support means so much."

"So, are you scared?" Trisha asked

"Not really." Chuckie replied. Just then, he came out, standing like a professional NBA player, or as much as he could, being that he was wearing a men's replica of his mother's WNBA uniform.

"L.A. Sparks?" Trisha asked laughing

"My Mom apparently had a jersey made in a men's size for me to have when she found out how long she was gonna have left to live, I decided to run home, and get it during lunch." Chuckie replied

"Wow, well, all I can say is, wear it with pride, that's actually what I love about that." Trisha said, putting an arm around Chuckie

The two entered the gymnasium. They earned a few chuckles from the rest of the team, although Chuckie brushed them off.

"Finster, can I help you?" asked Coach Sharmootson

"Yeah, I'd like to try out for the team." Chuckie replied

"This is the guy's team Chuckie!" Said Wally Rejamard, who was also trying out for the team captain "Besides, it's the last practice, why you here?"

"Because I've been peer pressured not to come in the other times, plus, a there was also a bunch of times you guys tricked me into thinking we were practicing at the community center five blocks down the road." Chuckie replied

"Well, you're at a disadvantage Chuckie, you see these guys have been doing drills with me that you might not be familiar with-"

"Sir you do the same drills with all the teams, every year. I know them, I'm no idiot, I'm not the retard you've thought I am the other 2 times I tried out, so why not you let me show you, and all these people to see what Chuckie Finster is truly made of."

"By what? Wearing a WNBA jersey?" asked another boy

"It's a replica of my Mom's, as you can tell by the "Finster" and the "13" on the back."

"Wait, you're Mom is Mel Finster?" asked another boy

"Yup, and I think it's about time I showed the world she's not truly gone from the world, especially the world of basketball."

"Now Chuckie, as coach, I don't think it would be fair to just put someone who is as behind as you-"

"I'm not behind, I've played basketball right in front of you, and I've heard what you've said about me in the teacher's lounge, the room isn't sound proof or anything, so let me try out, and just see me like an equal, like every other player here." Chuckie replied

The coach stood in shock, but then, gave a thumbs up of approval

"Thank you, and by the way, if you're gonna refer to your students by their last name, I feel I have a right to that too as an equal."

Chuckie eliminated every obstacle, every practice and test, he was the best of all of them, he even outplayed Wally, which made the boy fear for his chances towards the team captain position. He tried to sabotage Chuckie, but the redhead was on fir, he knew what to do, and never got tired. If he felt short of breath, he'd just look at Trisha, and his confidence would come back. There was a quiet player, who had been struggling to do too well on the team, he was talented, just confused and shy. So Chuckie decided to help him, and stood by him, and gave him the ball in every movement. Eventually, the boy, who introduced himself as Jus, a recent immigrant from India.

"Well, I'm impressed, it's a little risky, but I definitely like the way you play!" the coach called out to Chuckie

When it came time to the coach to list who he was picking, he listed them all down. Jus was picked as seventh man, so he was a significant part of the bench. It eventually came down to the last pick, Chuckie and 3 other boys stood. They were lazy, but often favored for their talent, and were only trying out thinking they knew they could get in. Chuckie stood there nervous, he looked at the bleachers, he saw Trisha pick up her phone, and leave the gymnasium to answer it. His only support, was gone, but he knew how to be a base for himself.

"Alright, final pick, and I'd like to say that at first, this decision was hard to make, since you all bring good qualities to the table, but there is one of you who has proven to me, time and time again, this not being the first, that he deserves to play on my boy's team... congratulations for making the team!" said the coach, handing a scrimmage jersey... to Chuckie "You've made it... Finster!"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Chuckie "Thank you Coach, oh my God! thank you."

"Are you kidding me coach, he was only here for one practice." said an angered wally he then whispered to the coaches ear "Plus, he might not listen to instructions or work with us, trust me, I know how retards work, I have a cousin with that."

"Your cousin has autism Regamard! And Finster here may have it too, but I've learned to see him as no different, he's right, he's equal, well not in basketball, I mean, let's face it, he obviously higher, but he's no different from you."

"Yes he is! Finster, you shouldn't be here, and I swear to God, you are getting on my last nerve!"

"What are you gonna do Wally, I'm not scared of you, none of us are, in fact, you know how I'm only, let's see on the position list... sixth man."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I bet I could take the starting line-up entirely, and let's make a deal, if you lose, you have to drop out of yhe running for team captain, and switch positions with me, I become centre, Jus becomes sixth man, and you become seventh."

"But what if I win?"

"If you win, I'll... I'll... I'll reduce my position to benchwarmer."

"Ah, so if I win, things are set straight? I mean, I prove I'm fit as team captain, and you are put in a position where you might not even play, the way it should be."

"Do we have a deal you arrogant meathead?"

Wally though about it, then spoke "First to 25, each basket equals one point, you got yourself a deal"

The two shook on it, and it was set.

* * *

_**What!? Chuckie, how!? I know it's short and not the best ever, I hope to update this again either tonight or tomorrow, if I don't, sorry. Please Stay Tuned and Review!**_


	27. Chapter 27

"Are you sure you want to do this, sixth man is better than bench warmer?" Wally taunted

"Just shut up please, let's just play." Chuckie replied

"First to 20 gentlemen, understood." The coach explained. He then tossed the ball in the air, which Chuckie got

"Yes.. I got it, I-" Chuckie was cut off by Wally when he tried to steal it, forcing Chuckie to just ditch it, luckily, he got the basket, scoring him 2 points.

This angered Wally, and the boys immediately didn't tolerate. They took the ball, and shot from the 3-point line, it went in, and this process repeated itself about 2 more times, already scoring 9 points. The ball was handed to Chuckie, and he glared at the boys. They all ran to him, Chuckie dodged one, and another came and blocked his shot, receiving the turnover to get 2 more points. It was now 11-2. Chuckue received the ball again, he dribbled to the 3-point line, and took the shot, only to get blocked, and get another turnover, a process thar repeated itself once more, it was 17-2. One more time, and they would be victorious. It was over, Chuckie was hopeless. There was only one way he could score, he had to only dunk, and being 6"3, that wasn't hard at all. He took the ball and dribbled to the net, he jumped, but was tripped in the process, barely getting the ball in. Chuckue wasn't hurt, but he knew that Wally was playing dirty now. The process repeated twice, but then, Wally had just about enough. Chuckie went for the jump, and his ankle was stomped on. He could barely walk, the score was only 17-8 in Wally's favour. 5 men on one team, against one man, it wasn't a game, it was a punishment. Chuckie was in pain, nearly reduced to tears, he was tired and was nearly unable to breath. Jus stood on the sidelines, cheering Chuckie on. He knew Chuckie had it in him. He ran to Chuckie and helped him up. The redhead had lost hope, it seemed to be all over.

"You can't quit." Said Jus "You may be tired, but at least lose with dignity. This is one tough situation, but only a tough person will make it through, and that tough person is eternal, the situation never is."

What Jus said echoed an old phrase Chuckie had heard before. 'Tough times don't last, but tough people do.' Chuckie stood up, and brushed himself off. This wasn't going to stop him, nothing would.

"You're done for, you're wasting your time go do something more at your pace of speed." Wally said

"Oh you shut up! You know what! I've had it to here with you, if I'm a retard, why not you try to humiliate me even more!" Chuckie replied

"Fine then! When we win, you have to wear a cheerleader outfit to every game, and you have to quit the team!"

"Fine, but if I win, you have to do that." Chuckie then turned to the boy who had insulted him for wearing the men's replica of his late birth mother's WNBA uniform. "AND YOU, have to become sixth man, making Jus lead shooting guard!" He then put his arm around his new friend, who was standing right by him

"If this involves me, then I need to get in!" Jus stated

"Fine." Wally agreed "I wish your loss could be humiliating for you." he then grabbed Chuckie's jersey and looked at it "It sucks that you already crossdress though." he laughed, then threw the boy down.

Jus helped Chuckie up "Look, don't get involved. I don't want you to get hurt." the redhead said to his friend

"Screw that! This guy deserves it! I know you see this as your responsibility, but no one can go their whole life without help. Einstein needed help, Hawking needed help, heck, even Jesus & God needed, and still need help. No one is so perfect to the point where they can ride solo."

Jus was right. Chuckie looked at his own jersey. He remembered something that learning about his mother had made of him after he found out his grandparents were Lebanese Maronites. A Christian. It was an odd and random transformation, but he didn't regret it. Chuckie put his hand in the pocket of the shorts, and saw something beautiful, even though it looked old and dusty. Chuckie polished it and saw a crucifix. As crazy as he thought he was to say it, Chuckie knew then that he'd been dumb all his life if he'd ever felt alone or helpless or hopeless, there was someone looking down on him, his birth Mom, Nicole, and even God, Chuckie now knew, he couldn't question this, especially after all the times he'd spoken with his mother's spirit. He put the crucifix on and got ready, for a comeback to end all comebacks.

* * *

The ball came to Chuckie, all five boys hurled themselves at him, so Chuckie tossed the ball, and Jus caught it, leaving him wide open to slam a 3-pointer. The process repeated itself. The new duo was unstoppable. It was like the legendary duo to replace Jordan & Pippen or Shaq & Kobe. It was incredible. The game came down to 17-14, still in Wally's favour. Chuckie's ball, he took the shot, and it missed, just barely, and Wally took it, and shot the 3, once again, it missed, but was tipped in by his one of his grunts, making the game 19-14.

"Where's your God now?" asked Wally Chuckie looked and Jus, and immediately, he knew, ther was no such thing as losing with dignity anymore, it was do or die.

"Let's crush'em!" Just whispered in fury.

Just then, the miracle came, and 2 dunks were scored. It was a miracle. It was happening, It was 18-19. Next basket would win. It was time. The ball was given to Wally, he was supposed to pass, but had grown arrogant. If anyone would humiliate "finstard", it would be him. He checked Chuckie to the floor, but right before he could complete the action, Jus pushed him out of the way, and Wally fell over.

"Jus, are you okay?" Chuckie asked

"Kind of, but he landed right on my ribs, I've got to sit down on the bench." Jus said, as he was helped to the bench

The second time. That was now the second time someone had put themselves in harm's way to help him. Sure, this event hadn't been at all severe, but someone got hurt helping him. Chuckie felt like he'd been nothing but an enemy to everyone who cared about him. He then came to a realization. He still had a promise to keep to Jus, this was a set back, but he couldn't let this emotionally hurt him, so he decided that he had to win. It was one last shot he needed to make, and it was his ball. He had to pull this off for Jus. He had the ball. He looked at Jus, who stared at Chuckie with anticipation. Chuckie decided to do something he never thought he would ever think of doing. Ever since he could remember, he'd been secretly trying to complete a Michael Jordan slam dunk. He'd always failed, but now, now was the perfect time to ever succeed. They all ran to Chuckie. Wally right in his direction, and Chuckie ran to the free throw line, and took the leap. He jumped, and he was jumping high, he was going to make it, he was about to slam it in, he looked at Wally, who was furious. Then, Wally made an uncalled for move. He pumped his fist in the air, and it shot Chuckie in the groin. Chuckie fell to the floor, barely shooting the ball in the direction of the net and getting the basket. It was game, set, and match. Jus ran and helped Chuckie up.

"You alright?" Jus said

Chuckie lifted up his head, and even though he was moaning in pain, he was also smiling. "Are you kidding, I feel awesome, we're in our team's starting lineup!"

Coach Sharmootson pulled Wally and his friends aside. "Wallace! That was disgusting."

"Wallace, what happened to Regimad?" Wally replied

"You don't deserve the respect of being called by your last name. That was the most unsportsman-like thing I've ever seen. Don't even think to try out next year."

Wally fell on his knees, lowered his head in shame, and exited the gumnasium. As he was about to leave, Chuckie called to him. "Hey Wally!" Wally turned around "I'll make sure to have my sister explain the routine for the first game of the season!" Wally got up to his feet, clinched his fist, grabbed a basketball, and whipped it at Chuckie's face. Chuckie got up, they heard crying, but when they saw Chuckie's face, they saw that the ginger was laughing hysterically. Wally left the gym. Everyone high-fived Chuckie and Jus, then left. Chuckie got up, he and Jus took their stuff, and left. Jus then took Chuckie to the tech team hangout, where he was introduced to a lonesome boy, and the only member besides Jus, Andre. Chuckie knew Andre since racial slurs were often thrown his way as well because of his Hispanic-SouthAmerican heritage. Andre was a shy, but intelligent person with technology, but his biggest love, was acting and filmmaking, something that his parents weren't very approving of. Andre decided to work with technology to cover up his acting love. Chuckie & Andre became good friends, and Chuckie even joined tech team with Jus & Andre. Despite everything, something was on in the redhead's mind though. Where was Trisha?

"Trisha Ono?" Andre asked

"Yeah, you know her?" Chuckie replied

"Kind of..." Andre answered twirling around his fingers

"Well, did you see her?"

"No, why?"

"She ditched me..." Chuckie thought. He was furious. He called her, and she wouldn't pick up. He fell down in tears, and when Andre asked what was wrong, Chuckie explained everything. His autism, his social issues, everything.

"That is awful!" Jus exclaimed "Andre, what do you see in her?"

"She's not like that, I swear. Chuckie, she wouldn't do this on purpose, I promise. She probably had an emergency at home."

Chuckie thought over Andre's statement, and concluded that he was right. Chuckie picked up his stuff and got up to leave. "Jus, you said you live on my street, need a ride?"

"Sure, I need to be home 7:30 so how fast can you go?" asked Jus

"7:30? Wait, what time is it?"

"7:00"

"Oh no! I was supposed to be home a half hour ago! Let's go!"

Chuckie and Jus bolted to the motorcycle, and headed to his house. Jus went home, as well did Chuckie, and at his doorstep, awaited Lil and Tommy.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Where were you!? Your parents were worried sick, and so were we!" Lil said, hugging Chuckie

"Why are you waiting out here?" Chuckie asked

"We've been looking through the streets, Phil said he saw you, and told us to get to your house, your parents won't open the door though, and Kimi won't answer her phone, do you know where they are?" Tommy asked

"No, not a clue, I'd assume you'd know. I was trying out for the basketball team and made it. I got caught up in a scrimmage game."

Chuckie took out his keys, and opened the door. He was horrified at the scene. There was blood spatter everywhere. On the couch, the kitchen, it was petrifying.

"Oh my God!? What happened!" Chuckie exclaimed

Chuckie then felt his cell vibrate, he picked it up, and noticed the number, he saw that it was a picture message, when he saw the images, he was reduced to tears, falling to the floor. The first image sent was of Kimi, she was bruised on her arms and legs, next image was his father, who had a broken nose, next was his mother, who had bump on her forehead, and the worst part, someone was had the foot on her already broken back, and then he realized there was one more. Trisha had never returned to Chuckie's practice, and that was because she'd been kidnapped! She had a black eye an her mouth gagged.

Chuckie got a call, Tommy picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked

"Is there a 'Chuckie Finster' there?" asked a familiar female voice that to the gang felt like that of the devil's

"It's her" he whispered to Chuckie

"PUT IT ON SPEAKER!" Chuckie yelled

Tommy did so. Chuckie spoke "Where are they?"

"You know where, and if you want them, then hereً's what I want: your motorcycle, and $1000, I need a car to get around in." she stated

There was then screaming, a hitting sound, he heard a woman screaming and crying, it was kira.

"Ahhhhhh please, not my back!" She yelled

"Please just have mercy!" Chas begged

"Shut up!" the girl yelled back "I want the money by tonight, understood?" she said

"I'll give you it! Just don't hurt my mom! She already has a broken back!" Chuckie begged.

His mother. The woman who gave her favourite earring to him as a gift, which he was wearing on his left ear right now. And his father, his all-time hero, his idol, the man that sacrificed his life to help make his son's worthwhile. They were in danger because of him.

"Well then hurry up before I paralyze her!" the girl yelled. She hit Kira on the back one more time, and the older woman cried for her son's help, then, the line went silent

"What have I done?!" Chuckie cried "WHAT HAVE I DOOOOONE?!"

* * *

_**Will Chuckie save the Finsters? Will Chuckie stop Ally? Will his parents be able to hang in much longer? And what does the future hold for him? STAY TUNED AND PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	28. Chapter 28

_**Before I start this chapter, I'm just gonna write a quick character description for each of my OCs. (Mind that these are in the first person.)**_

_**Jusandeep "Jus" Dillon- Hi, I'm Jusandeep, but you can just call me Jus. I'm originally from New Delhi, India. I came to America a few years ago when my Mom divorced my Dad for converting to christianity from Hinduism, since he didn't approve of the thought of the caste system, among other things. I really didn't care, my mother had always been kind of abusive anyway. Me and my younger brother, Sanjay converted with him when our Aunt was denied a marriage because of this system. My Mom went nuts, and so after the divorce, she wanted nothing to do with me or Sanjay. My Dad moved us and our aunt to California, but sadly, my Mom found us, and, I guess she was mentally unstable because she killed my Dad. I'm over it, my crazy Mom is in prison, and my Aunt is an amazing caregiver, she always knows how to wash the salt out of the wound. I've been lately looking for a job, because I want to support my brother and aunt. I know that if I try, I'll make it. My dream is to be a voice actor, but I also love basketball as well. I know I'll make it one day, my Dad always told me, the only loser, is he who didn't feel the pride of earned completion. I'm sad my Dad is gone, but I knew the day would come sometime anyway, everything happens for a reason, and I have my younger brother to take care of, and as I said, my aunt is always there for me.**_

_**Trisha Ono- Hi, I'm Trisha. I'm half-Japanese, half-SouthKorean. I was born in Vancouver, but my Dad moved my family here after a business transfer around a year ago. I'm not gonna lie, I hate living here, and really miss Canada. There is no snow, it's always hot, and I've made almost absolutely no friends, except for Chuckie and I've gotten to know this really cute Tech team member called Andre. My dream is to play basketball, but I also have a dream of running my own fashion company. **_

_**Andre Garcia- Hi, I'm Andre. I'm a combination of a bunch of different spanish countries including Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, on top of that, I'm part Brazilian. I've lived in Los Angeles, California all my entire life, I could never imagine living anywhere else. My parents are immigrants, and because of that went from Cardiologist and Pediatrician, to construction worker and housekeeper, yes, I know it supports stereotypes, it's common in my family, a good example, my older sister just married an Iraqi man she met at church two years ago and he runs his retired father's rug company. My parents are awesome, but they're just sometimes unreasonablly strict. My parents are really successful despite their setback, my Dad is VP of the company he works for, and my Mom recently opened up her own housecleaning service. My sister is good with business so I know what she's prepared to do, but I'm not someone who likes books, my Dad wants me to be an engineer, or become a part of the company he works for, but my dream is to be an actor & comedian, something both my parents despise. I remember every birthday as a kid, all my relatives woukd ask me what I wanted to be as an adult, and I'd always say actor. Almost all my cousins say doctor, lawyer, or engineer, but I want to act, I want to entertain. All my uncles, aunts, grandparents, and my parents advise me against it, my mom even cries sometimes. The only person who supports me are my older brother and sister, and their spouses. My younger brother and sister laugh at me and estrange from me for my dreams. I don't care about that, but my parents are irrational, my Dad has a 10-dollar-bill taped to the door, and a note that says, "If you think you can make it on a clean lifestyle in that godforesaken dirty business, go, this is all the blessing you get from me." And my Mom has threatened to kick me out, so lately, I've been lying, and pretending to want to study computer science insted. I'll make it through this somehow. Afterall, nothing is more powerful than a dream.**_

* * *

Chuckie sat behind the counter of the Java Lava. Jus, who with Andre, Chuckie had already introduced to the gang, sat next to him, helping him serve night time customers, while Lil comforted Chuckie, and Tommy kept watch in the security room with Andre. Chuckie wasn't able to focus. He was miserable. He'd caused his family, and Trisha, to get kidnapped. He was scared, what if he never saw his family again. No more quiet nights with his father, just sitting and watching a movie, or the Lakers game, or playing video games while eating home made, Finster-recipe fish sticks. No one who he could talk to when something was wrong, or to give a teen's opinion on something. No more being cared for when he was sick or injured, or comforted when something bad happened, and instead failing to show you appreciate them for filling the void left from Melinda's passing. Chuckie was certain that he was the reason that his loving mother, amazing sister, and heroic idol of a father, were all in the harmful clutch of his crazy ex. Chuckie's view of life had been disturbed for over a year because of his ongoing battle with depression, but he really felt like the world would be better off without him now.

Chuckie went into the back storage room, and began punching the walls violently, he began demonically screaming, pulling his hair and knocking rotten fruit over. He was truly furious with himself, and wasn't able to calm down until Lil ran in, and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's my fault! I caused this! If I'd just stayed home! I should've never dated Ally" he exclaimed

"This isn't your fault Chuckie, get that through yourself. You did nothing to hurt her, but she did everything she could to hurt you. Once we free your folks, we'll call the cops." Lil explained

She got up, and switched places with Jus at the counter. Jus came and sat down next to Chuckie, but immediately after Lil left, the boys heard her scream, and Chuckie ran to the counter to see Lil in Ally's chokehold, and with a knife to her neck.

"How dare you!? I bring you your parents and now you're planning to call the cops like I told you not to!" She yelled

"Please, don't hurt Lil, you have no idea what you take from me if you take her." Chuckie begged

Jus came out from the storage, and ran to Ally, getting ready to throw a punch, when she pulled out a knife. Jus moved back to Chuckie, and then he spoke. "Why do you still want money if you have a car parked outside?"

"I stole my Dad's you dumb sand-nigger! I need the money for plastic surgery, once I get it, I'm home free! I can use fake ID so I can leave the country, go to somewhere like UK or Australia, and start a new life." Ally replied. She then took out a loaded pistol, and pointed it right at the two boys. Chuckie was about to open his mouth, but Jus spoke

"I'll get the money, it's in that room." he said, pointing to the security room.

"What is he doing?" Tommy asked, watching this on camera

"Selling us out on camera!" Andre replied. They couldn't do anything about it, they thought they were doomed, until Jus walked past Ally, and then when behind her back, smacked her in the face, putting her in a chokehold, and Lil running into Chuckie's arms.

"Yeah! Now that's how it's done!" Jus replied

"Ahh! get off me, give me the money!" Ally demanded

"The only person who'll be giving anything is you." Chuckie replied. He picked up the gun, and pointed it at her. "And that's your car keys, your letting my family out!"

You couldn't hurt a fly, you're bluffing." Ally replied

"NO I'M NOT!" Chuckie yelled demonically. He then took a rotten orange, and shot a bullet through it, blasting it all over Ally "Does that prove anything to you."

Ally gave up, and fell to the floor. And handed her keys to Chuckie. Andre and Tommy came out. Andre and Jus tied Ally up, and Lil called 911. Chuckie and Tommy got the Finsters and Trisha out from the car. Chuckie untied Trisha, Tommy untied Kimi. Kimi and Tommy shared a kiss, and at the same time, Chuckie hugged Trisha, apologizing for not leaving the school sooner. Chuckie then looked at his parents and panicked. His father was unconcious, and his mother was crying in unbearable agony.

"What happened to him?" Chuckie asked Kira as he untied her

"That girl drives like a maniac. Your Father's head hit something and he went unconcsious, I'm not sure how long he's been in that state, but it's been a while. Get an ambulance here!" Kira yelled

"Already taken care of, how bad is your back?" He asked as he lied her down on a couch in the shop

"I'm in a lot of pain sweetheart, I can barely walk."

Chuckie lowered his head and covered his face. He began crying as Kimi came and pulled him into her embrace.

"It's all my fault!" He cried

"No it's not! You couldn't control this." his sister replied

"Dad could be dead!? Mom might be handicapped! All because Ally wants to hurt ME!"

"You were just a victim of circumstance, If she hadn't cheated on Z and broken your heart, this wouldn't have happened."

Kira rolled her head to her children. And despite her pain, pulled her children to her arms. "She's right Chuckie, stop blaming yourself, it only makes things worse."

The three continued to cry as Tommy and Jus brought Chas into the shop, and they laid him on the other couch. The man had an unusual heart beat, and they couldn't tell if he was breathing, although he didn't have his inhaler, and there was a small wound in his arm. Things were just going downhill, and they couldn't stop it.

* * *

**_Will Chas survive? Will Kira ever walk again? How will Chuckie handle this and move on from this? STAY TUNED AND PLEASE REVIEW!_**

**_PS- Jus' backstory is partially based off that of a religion teacher at my school. Andre's backstory is an exaggerated version of my Drama teacher's._**


	29. Chapter 29

Chuckie paced in the waiting room. He was full of worry for his father as Lil kept trying to calm him, as Trisha applied peroxide to Kimi's cuts. Chuckie was still convinced that he was responsible for what had happened to his parents. Tommy, Jus, and Andre brought some coffee, and they all joined in the worry. The rest of the gang arrived, Phil explained that Ally had been arrested, and that she was in police custody. All the parents were worried. They'd all known Chas since their adolescent years, and Kira was important to them because she made Chas into the happy man they'd known for decades before Melinda's passing. Nothing would ever be the same without them. They wouldn't have to wait much longer, as Kira came walking out on a walker. Chuckie bursted into tears. Kira walked to him slowly, and hugged him.

"Everything will be fine, I'm gonna be staying here over the weekend though, once I leave I'll be healed." She said. The next part was harder to say. "Chas is in more critical condition. He nearly had a hemorrage. He's alive, but in a coma."

Chuckie sank to his knees, covering his face with his hands, he was ashamed and miserable. That night, while everyone in the neighbourhood was asleep, Chuckie just got home at 4:00am. He went to his backyard, and just went to shoot some hoops in the backyard. Eventually, Kimi came out, and went to talk to him.

"What are you doing? It's 4:00 in the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep. Dad is in danger. He might be dead." He replied. His speech pattern all of the sudden became corrupt and odd. He sounded as if with every syllable, he would choke on a different amount of pressure. This was a symptom of his Aspergers syndrome, although it was only prevalent in situations of extreme fear, as his speech would be very long-winded in these moments.

"Chuckie, calm down, your voice is getting long-winded again, I need you to calm down."

"I know, but Dad is in hospital fighting for his life right now. That's not necessarily something a person can keep calm while knowing." He replied, as he tossed the ball into the net. Not wanting to talk, he walked back into the house and went to bed. The next day, he spent entirely on looking after his father, and when he came home, he went to go meditate. His conscience was speaking with his birth mom yet again.

"So, are you ready for the game this monday?" Melinda asked

"If Dad doesn't wake up by then, I'm not going." He replied

Melinda frowned at this, and put her hand on his cheek. She brought him into her arms, as she knew he needed the support.

"If there is one thing I know, it's that I do not ever want you to be someone to let those boys down. Look, I know these past few years have been an emotional roller coaster, and that depression has been ruthless with you. But you can't quit. Now listen, you should know as you grow up to always expect the unexpected, and anything can happen, and success is achieved in life only by doing everything but giving up. Crying, crawling, begging, losing breath, even puking, it's all acceptable, but quitting never is. You don't go to that game, regardless of what causes you to not wanna go, and you'll regret it somehow."

Chuckie opened his eyes and was back in the real world, at first, he was confused as to what his mother meant, so he went to sleep. The next day, it was after church. Chuckie had just gotten home from the motorcycle ride from his Lancaster Maronite church. The minute he fell on his bed, he got a call... From Kira... And it was urgent.

Chuckie rushed into the room, and saw his father breathing heavily despite still being unconscious. Chuckie rushed to his Dad, but right before he could grab his hand, the line on the monitor went flat. Chas' heart had stopped. It was over. A doctor checked and came to a conclusion. Charles "Chas" Norbert Finster, had died. This was what Melinda meant. Chuckie's father, his only biological family left... Was gone... He couldn't be, could he?

* * *

**_You all probably hate me right now..._**


	30. Chapter 30

Chuckie ran out from the room. He tried to run to the bathroom, but it was locked. He sank to his knees. When he felt someone kneel right behind him, he thought it was Lil, he tried his best to hold back tears and look strong, but when he turned and saw that it was his mother, and looked into her reddened eyes, he let himself fall into her sheltering embrace, as he released every tear his body had. It was over, his father, his hero, was gone.

* * *

That Monday afternoon after school. As hard as it was for him to do so, Chuckie listened to Melinda's spirit, and did as his birth mother told him, he went to the basketball game as his team's lead centre. Chuckie was shooting baskets. All day, people had been offering their condolences, for Chas, and everyone cheered on Chuckie, for not giving up on his team. Jus walked up to Chuckie, and patted his friend on the back.

"Look, I know how tough this is. When my Dad died I was devastated, I didn't leave my room for three weeks. I nearly starved to death. I just want you to know that if you need anyone to talk to, you can come to me."

"Jus, I'm fine, I'm almost over it." Chuckie lied "Besides, your situation is way worse. Your Mom hated you and your brother, she killed your Dad and tried to kill you."

"Yeah, but I lost my Dad, MY hero. I understand that."

Chuckie sighed, and then asked "Do you think good things happen to good people."

"Yes" Jus replied "But sometimes, the good person has to wait for the good fortune, in order to earn it. It makes the good things even better."

Chuckie looked at Jus. He truly believed that. Maybe something good was in store for Chuckie, he just had to wait.

Kira called Chuckie from her seat. When Chuckie got to hen tr, she tied up his messy orange hair. She then took the earring out of his ear, saying that his dangling Japanese earring she gave him was dangerous to wear. So Chuckie just put in the studded earrings. Looked at her son. She saw something on his arm. They were cut marks.

"Are you cutting yourself?" Kira asked

"No." The boy replied but Kira could tell when he was lying. There were no physical signs, but she could tell.

"I know that you feel awful, but I've lost my husband, I don't need to lose my son as well." She said sternly

"How did you know I was lying?"

"'No' was your first word... you saying that word is what caused me and your father to fall in love and get married in the first place... and it took you a whole nine months after that before I got you to say a second word. I know how to tell when you meet it and when you don't." Kira explained "Now don't change the subject."

"Oh come on. Do you think living this way is easy? My Dad is dead. Because of me! I caused his murder! I just can't help it. When I cut myself, I hurt the guy who killed my Dad."

"Chuckie, the boy that hurt him is not you." Kira said, shaking him. "Look, I know you're feeling awful, but you have to have faith. Your father is very strong. Stronger than you think. Always _expect the unexpected_." She explained to her son "Now cheer up, we came here to get our minds off this tragedy."

Kimi and Angelica were seen in their cheer leading outfits, pulling Wally out, in a matching outfit.

"See, like that. You won that bet, imagine if that was you." Kira laughed with her son "Although that boy really should've shaved his legs."

The two chuckled. Chuckie looked at her and realized, she was right. His father's passing meant that he had a meaning to the world. To never give up, and motivate others to do the same.

"Thanks for that. You're the greatest Mom a guy could want on earth." Chuckie said, as they hugged, Chuckie asked a question. "How often does a person die, then come back to life."

"It's rare, but that would be quite _unexpected_, don't you think?"

Just then, the starting lineups were called onto the court.

"Go get'em Aiji!" she whispered

They all got ready, and the opposing team, Stephen Clark Foster High School (The SCF Pioneers) had their lineup called by Andre, then, when La Cañada High School (La Cañada Beats) got ready, a surprise was announced

"To announce our home team's starting lineup of the season, we have someone who not only went to this school, but is known for his basketball talent here despite his short stature, asthma, and nerdy appearance. The father of one of our players tonight, everyone, let's welcome, Chas Finster!"

"What?" Chuckie thought

Then, a miracle happened, Tommy came out, pushing Chas in a wheelchair!

"Dad!" Chuckie exclaimed running to his father crying. This was what good fortune Chuckie would get.. he just had to wait for it... and it could not have come so unexpectedly.

Kira and Kimi followed, and the whole Finster family joined in a group hug. Chas tried to thank them, but his speech was severely slurred and he acted tired.

"Oh no, you've become a vegetable!" Chuckie cried

Chas guffawed "Nah Chuck, I'm just messing with you, and don't worry about the wheelchair, I'm only in it because they had to do a surgery on my brain. You see, after you guys left, Tommy stayed behind. They unplugged the machine, and there was a huge electrical malfunction, it sent a big surge of electricity into me. It got my heart and brain running again. I found out that I'd died for a little while, but that I'd come back to life. I wanted to surprise you so me and Tommy planned this. I got the brain surgery, so I can't stay on my feet for more than ten minutes at a time. This'll only be for the next month, I'll be fine, but I'm so glad that I never left you guys permanently." the man explained, bringing them all into a group hug. Chuckie got out and looked at Tommy.

"Thanks T." Chuckie said, hugging his best friend.

"For you, a thousand times over." Tommy replied

Kimi then walked up, and playfully smacked her boyfriend "How dare you not tell me about this, my own father was dead!"

They chuckled, shared a quick kiss, then Kimi rejoined the squad while Tommy rolled Chas to the commentators table with Andre, and Kira led Chuckie back to his spot with the team, being that Chuckie wanted to stay with his father, almost forgetting he had a game. Chas then began announcing the players. The last two were Chuckie and Jus, the school's dynamic duo...

"And standing at 6"0... Number Chhay (Punjabi for 6)... Jus Dilloooooooon!"

Everyone cheered as Jus came out.

"Standing at 6"3... Ruckem sufur sufur! (Number 00 in Arabic)... Chuckie Finsterrrrrrrrrr!"

The whole crowd cheered, everyone chanting Chuckie's name, and they all meant the respect they had for him. It felt great! But not as great... as what Kimi and Angelica forced Wally to cheer with them.

"Chuckie! Jus! They're both the man! If they can't do it... No one can!" Then, Angelica forced him into an individual verse "They beat me, that was no sweat, I'm so pathetic, I should just run home to bed. But I can't, because I lost the bet, now I have to act like a dudette!"

The whole gymnasium laughed hysterically at Wally.

Chuckie stepped to the centre court against the SCF centre. Chuckie stared into the eyes of the opposing centre as he got ready. His father, adoptive, and birth mother were all watching, he saw Lil, Phil, Dil, Trisha, and Susie in the bleachers, cheering him and Jus on. He saw Andre, smiling at him. His amazing sister and Angelica cheering him on and forcing Wally to follow. He turned to Jus, and both winked at each other. He looked at Jus and whispered something to him.

"TTKSA" Time To Kick Some ASS!

The rest of that night was history... history... to remember. **_(You can probably assume the outcome of the game at this point.)_**

* * *

_**"Great things happen to those who wait because part of being a good person is patience. The good person displays patience, and at a certain point, earns his good fortune." The Unknown Authour. When that quote becomes famous, only then, will my real name be revealed.**_

_***Mother hits me up side head and tells me to apologize***_

_**Me (In childish apologetic tone): I'm sorry for writing something that caused you guys to cry yourselves into dehydration in order to .**_

_**I'd also like to point out that the quote "For you, a thousand times over." said by Tommy, comes from a novel called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I`m gonna try to start pointing out references to other media that I put in here, as I`ve already had Kira reference Mulan, and Tommy reference Drake & Josh.)**_

_**Did you **__**guys really think I'd kill off Chas? He's my absolute favourite fictional father character EVER. Anyway, I'm sorry for doing that to you guys. **_

_**What does the future have for Chuckie? STAY TUNED & PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	31. Chapter 31

_**Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, but school has started so I really need you guys to be patient with me as I try my best to finish these stories. Since it's my birthday (sept. 18), I've decided to treat you guys by going out of my way to write this chapter, also my birthday is the reason why today was an especially hard day to get this chapter done, being that my family (and I come from a big one) has been constantly trying to contact me to talk with me and everything, leaving me barely anytime for work, let alone this story. Anywho, let's get on with this chapter.**_

* * *

Chuckie tossed the ball from the three point line and the buzzer went off with the ball in the air. The ball went in the hoop, and that was the game.

"Swish Swish" Chuckie thought

Jus and Chuckie ran to each other and high-fived. A young boy, maybe only 6 or 7, who bared a small, but fair resemblance to Jus ran to him.

"That was totally awesome!" yelled the boy

"Hey, you must be Sanjay." Chuckie said, offer a handshake

Sanjay shook the redhead's hand "Yeah, but my friends call me Jay. Jus has told me a lot about you!"

Jus' aunt arrived as well. She was a beautiful woman, maybe only in her late twentys. When she came and pulled Jus into a congratulatory hug, Chuckie could tell that he truly was happy, even after the pain that his friend had gone through, as his aunt did prove to be quite a loving woman.

Lil wheeled Chas over to Chuckie, and Chuckie hugged his father. When released from his father's hug, Lil wrapped her arms around him. She immediately unfolded them, and both teens blushed, not noticing each other's red cheeks.

The whole group gathered, and they all complimented the dynamic duo.

"I can't believe you scored 45 points Jus! That's incredible!" Phil said

"Yeah, he's... pretty cool." Angelica said looking at him in a certain way

"Angelica... you okay?" asked Dil

"Huh... oh yeah.. sure." She snapped out to reply

"Jus? you there dude?" Tommy asked

Jus had slightly zoned out for a moment looking at Angelica, nearly dropping Sanjay.

"Woah! Watch it!" yelled Sanjay, getting himself out of his brother's hold,

After the game, Chas insisted that the team go to celebrate at the Java Lava. Coach Sharmootson volunteered to pay for everyone, and on the walk there Chas decided if he was going to be in a wheelchair for the time being, he was gonna try to have some fun while out for walks.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Chuckie! Mom! You're going too fast!" Yelled Kimi as she sat in her father's lap, holding onto him in fear of falling as Chuckie and Kira pushed the wheelchair as fast as they could with all their strength.

"We're almost there Kimi, calm down." Chuckie said

At the Java Lava, everyone sat around a table. Chuckie was as happy as could be. He felt on top of the world.

"I feel great. I feel like I could do anything right now."

"That's great Chuck, hey, are you thinking about performing at the talent show in two weeks, maybe music?"

"I dunno, I might do an Eminem cover."

"Finally! I've been trying to get you to do it for two years!" Kimi exclaimed

"Yeah, and it's an upgrade from our Holiday performance of 'In the Jungle'" Tommy commented

"Well, that one improvised line I added was pretty funny." Chuckie joked at the memory. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. When he farted, the earth restarted, and nobody survived!"

The group was all in laughter. It was still awkward for Lil and Kimi to sit at a table together, let alone laugh at the same joke, so it was really hard to get something like this.

Once everyone was finished laughing, Lil and Chuckie's eyes met, and then Chuckie immediately turned away. Chuckie then realized that he had to remind them of something...

"So my last chemo is in a few months. I know I should be scared, but I don't. I feel more confident than ever. I know I'll make it."

The whole group agreed. They were worried at first, but after how Chas rose from the dead, they knew anything could happen.

* * *

2 weeks later, sure enough, things got better for the group. Chuckie and Jus were on fire with Their team, holding a 5-1 record, highest in the state, Chas was making a full recovery, and as promised, Chuckie performed at the talent show. He did a cover of Eminem's "The Monster" which he got help from his band, HSCD [(can stand for high school CD, because they released their first CD in high school, or **H**arold (Guitar), **S**usie (Bass & Female vocal), **C**huckie (keyboard, acoustic, male vocals), & **D**il (drums)] as they'd finally been able to return to their music since the beginning of all this drama that was happening this year.

Chuckie was still quite nervous, and was quite disappointed to not see Lil in the crowd. He was really unsure if he wanted to do this, but then, Kimi and Tommy ran to him minutes before the curtain came up,

"We're really proud of you Chuck." Kimi said

That was all Chuckie needed for a confidence boost. The curtains came on, and Phil, Angelica, Trisha, Jus, and Andre were all chanting for their friend, banners of the band held high with happiness. To make it better the performance was spot on. Chuckie eventually gave his own verse for the song being that this was his cover.

_Sometimes, the biggest enemy is yourself_

_Like when you go for revenge, not realizing the people who hurt you, are already hurting __themselves_

_And when trash hits the fan, cram it under the shelf..._

_The rap continued, and the whole school found it quite empowering, how Chuckie was finally opening up about how he felt about everything that had happened in those past 5 months. The lyrics were all about not only those who hurt you, but more importantly, realizing that sometimes, your worst enemy is yourself. Especially in anxiety or depression, Chuckie had learned that and learned to ignore his inner demons, and closed away the negative thoughts._

Chuckie was applauded. The whole entire school went crazy with excitement. Everyone loved it!

Lil was not found in the crowd though. Kimi looked and couldn't find her. It disgusted her, until she saw Lil backstage. Lil was the last performance. She did a cover of Victoria Justice's "Best Friend's Brother". The whole school erupted. Everyone knew what she meant with her singing. She'd finally admitted to Chuckie that she liked him.

On the way back to the Finster residence that night, everyone seemed to have been talking about the performance, and then, the moment they'd all been waiting for came...

"Hey Lil, I loved your performance." Chuckie commented

"Thanks. Do you know why I did it?" Lil asked

"You're a huge Victoria Justice fan." he replied

eneryone's jaws dropped

"No! The song is about liking my best friend's brother."

"You like Susie's older brother, Buster?"

The whole group had now facepalmed themselves.

"No! You! No matter how mad Kimi gets at me, we used to be best friends, and I never stopped thinking of her that way no matter how ahrd I try." Lil said, looking a Kimi

Kimi bursted into tears and admitted the same...

"Me too" she cried, running into Lil's arms.

Lil eventually pried Kimi off from her, and explained herself.

"But it's also because I like you as more than a friend." Lil said

Chuckie shrugged in what seemed like fear... "Oh, I'm sorry Lil, but I have a crush on someone else..."

"What!? Who!?"

"... Angelica." Chuckie admitted

The whole group gasped, Jus felt his heart drop right out of his posterior, until Chuckie bursted in laughter...

"Nah! Don't worry Lil, I don't actually." Chuckie guffawed

The whole group calmed down, then realized, the two liked each other.

"I've always kind of liked you as more than a friend... I just do. So, I was wondering, if you'd like to go out sometime?"

"I'd like that..."

Lil then became tempted to ask a question...

"By the way, why is it that whenever I look at you, you can't keep eye contact?"

Chuckie raised an eyebrow at this "You really don't know? It's part of having Asperger's, I struggle to keep eye contact with people."

"Oh..."

Chuckie laughed at this, and then, noticed that Kimi was in the mood to start teasing them, and she put on a fake serious face.

"What!? No best friend of mine can date my brother! Hell No!" She said, lightly pushing Lil and the others out the gate. "You've broken the girl code Lil Deville!"

Once Pushed out, Lil called out to Chuckie, telling him to come over in a week to her house for their date.

* * *

Sure enough, in about a week, that day came. Kimi had not been at home that night, claiming to have a project, so Chuckie had to choose his own outfit... blue jeans, black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, with a green sweater vest. He also tied back his hair, and was wearing a pair of black square-studded earrings. He picked up a bouquet of flowers from the garden in the backyard. Chuckie knocked on the door, and Lil answered it. She looked stunning. Lil wasn't one to wear a dress, but she had a pink skirt, with a beige dress shirt. She also had a pair of black high heels, and her favourite pair of diamond earrings she had from her grandmother. Chuckie was in aw, she looked gorgeous. Lil took the bouquet and sniffed the beautiful flowers. She took Chuckie inside and, he saw Phil?

"Bonjour! I am Philippe! Your chef for tonight!" Said Phil in a comedic French accent

"Phillip insisted on cooking our dinner for tonight, because apparently, I suck at cooking." Lil explained

They were seated by "Philippe" at the dinner table, which had clearly been redesigned to look more formal, and instead of the lights being on, there were candles lit.

They sat down, and then Kimi, in a shirt, vest and tie, came out to play the roll of a waitress.

"Oh... A glimpse into the future!" Chuckie joked, earning a hit upside the head by Kimi's menus, which she gave to them.

It was a simple meal, for appetizer, they had caesar salad, homemade cheese sticks and croissants. The main course had a bit of a french theme due to the Deville's french ethnicity, Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). They shared one bowl, and shared a noodle (I'm referring to that thing you see on the cover of lady & the tramp).

The new couple had a wonderful time. They were laughing, talking, it was a great night. It was awhile after the main course that Kimi and Phil prepared dessert, crepes with ice cream. It was around then, that Chuckie checked his phone. He saw a preview of a message. It was a missed phone call... From his mom! Kira was only supposed to call at curfew. Just then, Betty and Howard walked in...

"Woah! Sorry To interrupt but, Chuck, isn't your curfew 11?" Asked Betty

"Yeah..." He replied

"It's 1:30 AM" Howard said

"What!?" Kimi exclaimed

Chuckie checked his phone, and they were right. Betty and Howard awkwardly left the room. Phil followed, and Chuckie pushed Kimi out, telling her to wait for him.

"Alright... I don't have much time to do this, so... here." Chuckie said, pulling Lil into a a kiss as passionate as no other. He was, like Lil, in true love.

He left the house, and Lil exhaled in pure happiness. It'd happened. Chuckie liked her back!

Once they arrived at their home, they climbed into their windows, both parents noticed this, as they'd been waiting...

Kimi was disappointed and upset with herself, but Chuckie, all he could think about was that amazing passionate moment he'd just shared with his new love. A moment to last a lifetime.

* * *

_**I hoped you guys enjoyed this. I tried to write a full verse of the rap, but every time, I had something, it sounded lame, I can right music and poetry, but rap... I need some more practice, but it's better than how it used to be for me. Anyway, I hope to finish within the next 5 or 6 chapters. AS ALWAYS... STAY TUNED & PLEASE REVIEW!**_


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